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Finnish MPs agree more rights for indigenous Sami parliament
The parliament is the Sami people's main political body in Finland. PHOTO: REUTERS
HELSINKI - Finnish lawmakers approved on June 19 a long-awaited legal reform of the Sami parliament that strengthens the rights of Europe's only recognised native people to decide how they are governed.
The changes to the Sami Parliament Act aim to bring the law governing the assembly into line with Finland's human rights obligations.
The parliament is the Sami people's main political body in the Nordic country.
The new law modifies the Sami electoral system and the criteria for standing in these elections.
It also clarifies the Finnish authorities' duty to consult the Sami on matters that concern them.
The acting speaker of the Sami parliament told AFP the bill – which had stalled under three previous governments – included important elements which 'strengthen the Sami people's powers to decide how they are governed'.
'For more than 14 years now, we have had to fight to have a free voice,' said Mr Tuomas Aslak Juuso, who is Acting President of the Sami Parliamen t.
The Sami are an indigenous Finno-Ugric people inhabiting the Arctic region of Sapmi, which encompasses parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and the Kola Peninsula of Russia. They are known for their unique culture, including their traditional reindeer herding practices, languages, and handicrafts.
Some 10,500 indigenous Sami live in Finland, speaking three different Sami languages.
Under the Finnish constitution, they have the right to keep their own languages and culture.
And in their homeland in Finnish Lapland, Sapmi, they have the power to take political decisions on such matters.
Their main decision-making body is the Sami parliament, which is based in the Arctic town of Inari and holds elections every four years for its 21 seats.
Mother tongue
United Nations human rights bodies criticised Finland several times over the Sami Parliament Act.
They said the Act breached Finland's human rights obligations because it allowed people who the Sami parliament did not deem eligible to be included on the electoral roll.
The new Act bases a person's eligibility to vote or stand in Sami parliamentary elections on language.
This means they must have one of the Sami languages as their mother tongue, or have at least one parent, grandparent or great-grandparent who did so.
MPs who opposed the reform said the new criteria exclude from the electoral roll people who should be included.
But Mr Juuso said it allowed the parliament to finally 'focus more on other issues which are perhaps even more important for the future of the Sami language and culture'.
In addition to northern Finland, the Sami homeland of Sapmi stretches over the northern parts of Norway, Russia and Sweden.
There are an estimated 75,000 to 100,000 Sami in total, many of whom live outside Sapmi. AFP
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