Human Rights and the Environment

Case Study: Sami Culture

Country: Sweden

Region: Europe

Issues: Litigation, Indigenous People

As reported in our issue paper prepared for the Commission's fifty-fifth session, the Sámi people of Northern Scandinavia have lived the nomadic life of reindeer herders, traveling across Sweden, Norway, Finland and the Kola peninsula of Russia, for over 1,000 years. This traditional lifestyle has long been threatened by modern forest management practices, which degrade the soil to the detriment of the reindeer's winter food supply. The Sámi people now face an even more immediate threat in the form of numerous lawsuits brought against them by private land owners. The land owners claim the right to be compensated for damage that the reindeer have caused to their pine plantations. Although Sweden, for example, has recognized the Sámi's right to graze their reindeer on both private and state land, Swedish legislation leaves it to the Sámi people to prove their customary rights in the courts. In the absence, however, of written documentation to prove long-standing use, the Sámi cannot prove their rights and are likely to lose both these rights and large sums of money in the course of litigation. Without government support, the Sámi culture faces almost certain extinction.

In an unfortunate development, in February 2002, the more than 10-year old court battle has resulted in a Sámi defeat in the Court of Appeals. The decision is confirming a previous court decision from 1996 that the private forest owners don't have to accept reindeer winter grazing on their lands. The court decision acknowledges that it is the responsibility of the Swedish state to ensure that the Sámi reindeer herding culture can be maintained and developed. The Sámi communities have declared that they will take the case to the Supreme Court as a court decision in favor of the private land owners risks driving the communities into bankruptcy and hindering reindeer herding in the region.[1]

[1] See Taiga Rescue Network, Sami Lost Court Case, at http://www.taigarescue.org/news_update/news.php?news_update=europe&article=352 (visited January 15, 2003).

Last Updated: 09/09/05