Summary of Working Paper No. 154-1999
IV.4.1
The Sami occupy the westernmost end of the NSR which exerts considerable
political, economic, and social influence on the Barents Euro-Arctic region. With
increased use, the NSR will stimulate economic activity in the region, directly
affecting Sami interests and rights. The NSR must develop policies to protect
Sami rights and culture, to include them in any benefits, and to mitigate any
adverse consequences to their livelihood and culture. The paper describes in some
detail the political and legal institutions of the Sami likely to be
encountered by the users and promoters of the NSR. It describes the network of Sami
organizations, governmental and non-governmental, that regulate relations between
the Sami as a distinct ethnic group and the four nation states (Norway, Sweden,
Finland, and Russia) within which they reside. The paper also describes the
international organizations and institutional framework, which are increasingly
important in ethnic and indigenous affairs today.
The overwhelming majority of Sami live in Norway. Expanded use of the NSR will
directly effect only the Sami population in Norway and Russia, although Sami
in neighboring regions of Finland and Sweden could be indirectly affected. The
NSR and developed projects related to and dependent upon it will have effects on
a population spread over a very large area. Thus, developments connected to
the NSR could effect the Sami differently in different areas.
Expanded use of the NSR will certainly impact the sea-fishing Sami areas in
Norway and Russia as well as the harbors of the northern Norwegian and Russian
coastline, particularly Narvik in Norway and the harbors of Murmansk in Russia.
Since the largest harbors at Narvik in Norway and Murmansk in Russia are
connected to large cities with already developed infrastructure and industry, the
impact of increased shipping through these harbors would not be likely to have a
significant effect on the Sami people, culture or rights. However, plans to
construct a large, year-round, deep water port in the Petsjenga fjord in connection
with transport and supply of the offshore oil and gas fields of the eastern
Barents Sea would undoubtedly have an impact on local population of the region.
The general effects of international use of the NSR for the majority
population in Russia and Norway also affect the minority populations within the region.
Sami along with other Russians and Norwegians, will benefit from the economic
stimulus of increased shipping, tourism, and oil and gas development in the
northern waters.
Of the entire Sami population, only a very small percentage earn their primary
income from a Sami industry. Nevertheless, the Sami industries are of major
significance for the entire Sami population. In addition, many Sami have links
with a Sami industry, either by engaging in a Sami industry as a supplemental
source of income or to provide for their domestic needs such as through fishing or
making Sami handicrafts.
Sami fishing is the oldest branch of Sami industry with long traditions in
Sami culture. Sami fishing can be divided into sea fishing and inland fishing.
Sami sea fishing is carried on only in Norway and Russia where there is a distinct
Sami fishing culture. Sami inland fishing is carried on throughout the entire
Sami area. Expanded use of the NSR could have particularly significant impacts
on Sami sea fishing in Norway and Russia. As the NSR provides infrastructure
for transporting raw materials extracted from the north as well as supplies to
the North, the NSR will affect the methods, timing, and scale of resource
development in the Barents and Kara Sea. A large section of the Sami population in
Norway and Russia are coastal Sami people who from time immemorial have been
fishing along the Norwegian and Russian coast and at sea. Both lawyers and the main
Sami organizations have asserted that certain coastal rights exist for the
coastal Sami population in Norway. These rights, however, have not been confirmed
in legislation. If special coastal rights exist for the indigenous coastal Sami
and other long term coastal residents in Russia, these too have not been
confirmed in legislation. Nevertheless, rights may exist and eventually be confirmed
relying on international law, the Russian Constitution, and various edicts of
the Russian Federation.
Reindeer keeping is one of the most specifically Sami industries and has had a
major influence on Sami culture. Among the Sami industries, only the reindeer
industry has been regulated by law, and only reindeer keepers have been
accorded special legal status. The need for regulation of land use conflicts between
the reindeer industry and other non-Sami industries such as farming and forestry
led to the recognition of special legal status for Sami herders. In addition,
the Swedish and Norwegian nation states have regarded reindeer keeping as one
of the most important cultural factors for the continuation of Sami culture.
Thus, reindeer keeping gained official status in the legal systems of Norway and
Sweden and remains officially the most important cultural factor for the Sami
culture. The fact that reindeer keeping for a long time officially has been the
most important cultural factor has also affected the nation states' policies
toward the Sami and the legislation surrounding the Sami society.
Legislation differs considerably among the Fenno-Scandinavian countries. What
the legislation on the reindeer industry in the various Fenno-Scandinavian
countries has in common is that it is based on prescription from time immemorial,
which means that the right to breed reindeer cannot be abolished simply by
changing the law. The right to keep reindeer is a strong right. In Sweden and
Norway, the right to keep reindeer covers also subsidiary rights such as fishing and
hunting rights.
Reindeer keeping extends over large areas of land. Thus, the reindeer industry
has to exist side by side with other industries and other forms of land use.
It is unavoidable that conflicts occur between the interests of the reindeer
herders and other interests. Building harbors and the infrastructure connected to
harbors such as roads, buildings etc. will probably effect the Sami reindeer
keeping. However, the right to keep reindeer is a strong right in Norway which
may create lawsuits and legal obstacles to harbor development in Norway.
The fact that the Sami live in four separate states means from a legal point
of view that common questions for the whole Sami people are international
questions and a part of international law. At the XIIth Sami conference at Åre,
Sweden in 1986, the Sami decided to commission the then Nordic Sami Council to
prepare a draft Sami convention. In 1990, the (renamed) Sami Council appointed a
special legal committee with instructions to prepare and present a draft Sami
convention to apply in all four states with Sami populations. The committee then
prepared a proposition of principal problems which was discussed by the Sami
Council in Helsinki, Finland on 19 May 1992. The Sami Council presented the
proposition to the Sami conference in Helsinki which passed the proposition on 15 - 17
June 1992.
Effects of future use of the NSR on the Sami population will depend on
specific development plans and the ways in which they might be realized. As more
definite programs and plans become known, further studies should be undertaken to
determine their impacts on the Sami population and culture and to determine the
degree to which such plans are compatible with national and international laws
protecting the rights of Sami and indigenous peoples more generally.