Approximately 80,000 Saami live in the Scandinavian countries of Sweden, Norway, Finland, and the Kola Peninsula in Russia, also known as Sapmi. Saami have occupied this land since time immemorial surviving mainly through reindeer hunting for food and fur. Over time they have transitioned to reindeer breeding, which requires large areas of land for the reindeer to graze.
“Reindeer herding today is the thing that makes the difference between Saami and Swedish culture,” says Lars-Anders Baer, Chairperson of the Saami Parliament. He adds that the conflicts over land have highlighted the importance of preserving traditional reindeer herding practices as a means of preserving Saami culture.
Saami communities have faced land rights struggles since 1990, when three Swedish forest companies and several private land owners sued five reindeer herding communities in the region of Haerjedalen, claiming that the herders had no right to graze their reindeer on the privately owned sections of land. In 1996, the court ruled against the Saami defendants, a decision later upheld by an appeals court. Since the 1996 ruling, six other private landowners have sued Saami communities arguing against traditional grazing rights.
Although Sweden’s Reindeer Husbandry Act of 1971 guarantees Saami herders the right to graze reindeer on private land, the Act does not specify exactly which lands they have access to, allowing private landowners to contest the extension of the Act to their own land.
In 2002, the Swedish government appointed a Boundary Commission, with the aim of determining the borders of land that can be lawfully used by Saami herders, and the CERD report urges the Swedish government to hold the Commission accountable to their deadline at the end of this year.
Although Saami face conflicts with the majority governments in the other countries in which they live, Saami in Sweden face unique disadvantages due the government’s reluctance to recognize their particular rights as an indigenous people.
“The Swedish rule over our people,” says Baer, who points out that Finland and Norway have more explicitly acknowledged Saami as a distinct people with special rights as opposed to Sweden, which despite being home to 20,000 Saami, has yet to ratify UN Convention No. 169 concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries, a fact also criticized by the recent CERD report.
Similarly, Sweden lacks an influential governmental body like the Saami Parliament of Norway. The Saami Parliament of Sweden, established in 1993, comprises an elected body of Saami representatives, but, according to Baer, mainly serves in an advisory capacity with limited powers.
Due to economic pressures only about 15 percent of Saami in Sweden continue traditional reindeer herding practices, and many must find alternative means of income to supplement such work. Baer says that he believes it would be difficult to downsize the reindeer herding operations any further and hopes that the Swedish government will further recognize Saami as a distinct indigenous people.
Justine Petrillo is a regional editor at Cultural Survival.
