Statement by Dr. Atle Grahl-Madsen, Prof. of Public and International Law, University of Bergen, for the Nordic Sami Council re: The Sami Convention and treaty relations with Nordic states - UNWGIP Aug 1988
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DOCUMENT: SAMI88.TXT
T H E N O R D I C S A M I C O U N C I L
SAMIRADDI The Nordic Sami Council
Nordiska Sameradet El Consejo Nordico Saame
Pohjoismaiden Saamelais- Le Conseil Saame Nordique
neuvosto
SF-99980 Ohcejohka
Utsjoki
Tele. 9697-71 351
United Nations Working Group
on Indigenous Populations
[E/CN.4/Sub.2/AC.4]
Sixth Session, 1 - 5 August 1988
Agenda item 6
Outline of the study of treaties,
agreements and other constructive arrangements
between States and indigenous populations
STATEMENT
by
Dr. Atle Grahl-Madsen
Professor of Public and International Law
University of Bergen (Norway)
Madame Chairman:
I thank you for giving me this opportunity to address the
Working Group.
I am here at the urging of the Nordic Sami Council. an
umbrella organization of Sami associations in Finland,
Norway and Sweden, and recognized by the Nordic Council and
the Governments of the Nordic States as the spokesman of the
Sami Nation at the Nordic level.
The Nordic Sami Council has asked me to address the Working
Group on the matter of a Sami Convention, that is to say the
proposition that the Nordic States should enter into a
treaty relationship with democratically elected
representatives of Sapmi, the Sami Nation. This convention
would then form the basis for the future relationship
between the Nordic States and Sapmi, the Sami Nation.
The idea of a Sami Convention was first voiced in 1985, at
the Third Seminar on The Small Nations of the North in
International and Constitutional Law, which was held in
Guovdageaidnu in the midst of the Sami heartland in northern
Scandinavia, the Sami Davve Eana.
The Small Nations of the North are the autonomous communities
of Aland, Foroyar and Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland), and also
Sapmi - the Sami Nation.
The idea of a Sami Convention has since been elaborated in a
little booklet, THE PEOPLE OF THE TWILIGHT ZONE, which has
been issued in a preliminary edition of just 100 copies, and
which I had the honour of presenting to you, Madame
Chairman, and to the other members of the Working Group
yesterday.
More important, the idea of a Sami Convention has been
lively discussed in representative Sami organs, and at the
Nordic Sami Conference at Are 1986, it was agreed to pursue
this idea as a vehicle for Sami aspirations.
I am therefore today able to emphasize that the Sami Nation
indeed wishes such a Convention, which would signify the
recognition of Sapmi - the Sami Nation - as a co-equal
entity possessing rights and duties justiciable under
international law.
Over the years there have been many treaties affecting the
Sami Nation.
Most famous is the so-called "Lapp Codicil" 1751, which
supplemented the frontier treaty between the kingdoms of
Norway and Sweden of that same year. As late as last year, a
Norwegian royal commission proposed a treaty on Sami
cultural matters to be concluded between Finland, Norway and
Sweden [NOU 1987:343].
Common to all the existing treaties is that they are
concluded by State governments over the heads of the Sami.
The same goes for the treaty proposed by the royal
commission.
The idea of a Sami Convention differs in this very basic
respect from the existing treaties, in that Sapmi - the Sami
Nation - for the first time will become a co-equal Party to
a Convention.
In Norway a constitutional amendment was adopted in the
spring of 1988, obliging the State authorities to assure
conditions conducive to the Sami ethnic group's sustaining
and developing its language, its culture and its social
life.
Moreover, we will soon see Sami elective assemblies in all
of the three States: Finland, Norway and Sweden.
If these assemblies can rally together, we shall for the
first time have a truly democratically based organ capable
of speaking on behalf of Sapmi, the entire Sami Nation.
However, the Sami assemblies in the several States are
created by State laws, enacted by State Parliaments where
the Sami as such are not represented. The same goes for all
the other State laws and regulations: they have been enacted
over the heads of the Sami, and the Sami Nation has - when
it comes to the final test - no real say in all the
important matters regulated by State law, which affect their
daily life as well as their continued existence as a Nation.
It is also significant that the Norwegian constitutional
amendment - as well as important legislation - refers to the
"Sami ethnic group" rather than to the Sami Nation. And
indeed, in each of the several States, the Sami are
considered as an "ethnic group". Sapmi, the Sami Nation,
transcends State frontiers and can only be recognized at the
international level.
Sapmi - the Sami Nation - is dispersed between four States:
the three Nordic States of Finland, Norway and Sweden, and
also the Soviet Union. In each State they form a minority.
There is a large, thinly populated area in northern
Scandinavia, where the Sami constitute the majority
population. The fringes of this Sami heartland may be
difficult to define with precision. Moreover, a majority of
the Sami people are living outside the Sami heartland, so
that a "territorial" solution will not be a solution for all
Sami. Conversely, of course, a "personal" solution will not
be a satisfactory solution for the Sami territory.
A Sami Convention will have to address all these problems.
There are important matters which affect Sapmi - the Sami
Nation - as a whole, or at least clearly beyond the confines
of the Sami heartland. The safeguarding and development of
the Sami culture belong to this category. So do important
issues concerning that arch-typical Sami activity: reindeer
herding, and also the maintenance and development of Sami
handicraft - duodji. It is certainly also a matter for Sapmi
to represent and speak on behalf of the Sami Nation as a
whole.
Other matters may best be resolved within the framework of a
Sami territory. This applies to many of the matters referred
to in the draft articles of a universal declaration on
indigenous rights, included in the working paper which you,
Madame Chairman, have presented to the Sub-Commission
[E/CN.4/Sub.2/1988/25]. I am thinking of such internal and
local affairs as education, health, housing, social welfare,
land and resource administration and safeguarding of the
environment.
The conclusion of a Sami Convention would mean the
recognition of Sapmi - the Sami Nation - as One Nation
Indivisible, and indeed a sovereign entity SUI GENERIS -
that is to say "sovereign" in the meaningful sense that its
authority emanates from within the Sami community and not
from any external power.
The States and Sapmi would not only agree to regulate
matters of concern to the Sami Nation as a whole, but they
could also agree to create an autonomous Sami territory:
Samieana - the Sami Land - comprising parts of each of the
participating States. The States would retain the
suzerainity of their respective parts, but the autonomous
government would nevertheless be able to bring about a large
measure of uniformity throughout the entire Samieana.
This model - the formal recognition of a Sovereign People
agreeing with the suzerain State or States on the setting up
of an autonomous territory - might, perhaps, also be
interesting with respect to an improvement of the situation
of indigenous peoples in other parts.
It might alleviate the fear of established governments that
a recognition of the right to self-government of indigenous
peoples might lead to the breaking up of the State or at
least the map coming to look like a good Swiss cheese: full
of holes.
Yet such a solution might bring the indigenous peoples what
they want more than anything else, a recognition of their
identity and their dignity as a People, a Nation in their
own right, and a possibility to live in peace and to
maintain and develop their own social and cultural values.
There are strong arguments in favour of a Sami Convention.
The Nordic Peoples are honouring democratic values and human
rights. They are bound to admit that the Sami Nation is
numerically so small that it can never be adequately
represented in the halls of government of the several
States. If there shall be any measure of Sami self-
government, it has to be entrusted to Sami organs,
democratically constituted by the Sami themselves.
Moreover, there are important historical factors. Sapmi -
the Sami Nation - has co-existed with the Norsemen, the
Swedes and the Finns throughout Scandinavia for thousands of
years. In spite of their inferior numbers, the Sami have
been capable of preserving their identity, their language,
their culture and their dignity in spite of persecution and
repression spanning centuries. At long last they are now
recognized by everyone as a distinct Nation in their own
right.
There is also the constitutional argument. Each of the five
Nordic States is based on the principle of the Sovereignty
of the People. In Sweden this is even written large in
Section 1 of the Constitution of 1974. The Sovereignty of
the People is today a generally acknowledged basis for a
People to assert its nationhood and to declare its intention
to govern itself. We may recall the bannerline in the
newspaper LA SUISSE on the 1st of August, the Swiss national
holiday: "A People Chose Its Way". But the strength of the
principle of the Sovereignty of the People is also its
limitation: It gives no People a right to dominate other
Peoples. A State which is based on the Sovereignty of the
People must of necessity recognize the equal right of all
Peoples to determine their own life.
Once the Nordic States have become conscious of the
existence of another People in their midst, and indeed have
recognized Sapmi as One Nation Indivisible, the only logical
conclusion seems to be that they will strive to find an
optimum solution for Sapmi to assert its nationhood and
develop its self-government to the fullest possible degree
within the existing parameters of demography, geography,
economy and ecology.
An added consideration is that the Nordic States will not in
the long run be able to maintain credibility in
international fora concerned with humanitarian issues,
unless they do their utmost to find a fully satisfactory
answer to the legitimate aspirations of Sapmi - the Sami
Nation.
"Charity begins at home." I do not think that I am unduly
optimistic if I venture to say that before the end of the
present twentieth century, we shall see Sami representation
in the Nordic Council and the Nordic Council of Ministers
and also the adoption of a Sami Convention, fully
recognizing Sapmi as a sovereign entity SUI GENERIS, and
laying the foundation for an autonomous territorial
community - Samieana, the Sami Land - under the suzerainity
of the established States.
Thank you, Madame Chairman and members of the Working Group,
for the time and the attention which you have given me.
1988-08-05
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