Event Details
Where: Zoom (the event has passed)
When: Thursday 5 May 2022, 14:00 to 15:00 Central European Summer Time (CEST), 08:00 to 09:00 Eastern Daylight Time (EDT)
Organisers: The Norwegian National Human Rights Institution and the Sámi Parliament in Norway.
Join us for a side event on “Human Rights Protection against Interference in Traditional Sami Areas” during the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) 21st Session. The event will begin with a presentation of the Norwegian National Human Rights Institution’s recent report focusing on ICCPR Article 27 in a Sámi Context, followed by a panel discussion. The event will be held in English.
Program
- Welcome from the Moderator.
- Welcome and Opening Remarks (5 min), Johan Strömgren, Head of NHRI Regional Office, Kautokeino, Norwegian National Human Rights Institution.
- Presentation of the Report (25 min), Gro Nystuen, Deputy Director of the Norwegian National Human Rights Institution and Petter Wille, Special Advisor, NIM.
- Panel Discussion (15 min), Silje Karine Muotka, President of the Sámi Parliament in Norway, Professor Øyvind Ravna, UiT The Artic University of Norway, Head of research group for Sami and Indigenous Law, and José Francisco Calí Tzay, UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
- Questions from the Audience (15 min).
- End of Panel Discussion and Closing Remarks from the Moderator.
Background Information
The Norwegian National Human Rights Institution has published a report on Human Rights Protection against Interference in Traditional Sami Areas.
Article 27 of the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR Article 27) has through practice become the most important international provision on the protection of indigenous peoples against interference and on their right to safeguard and further develop their culture. Other international instruments, such as ILO Convention 169 on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent States (ILO 169) and the UN International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), are also important instruments in this field. The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) largely reflects current law in these areas.
ICCPR Article 27 was central to the Norwegian Supreme Court’s consideration of the case concerning wind power plants on the Fosen peninsula in October 2021. This was the first time that affected Sami parties, in a case concerning a development project in their traditional areas, won in the Supreme Court through reference to human rights. This judgment plays a key role in this report, and it might be of interest for indigenous peoples globally, because it clarified several key issues regarding indigenous peoples’ protection against interference in their traditional reindeer grazing areas.