Polarization of the cultural rights of the Sámi in Finland

12.12.2023 0 Like 0 kommenttia Lora Milutinovic

The Ministry of Education and Culture states in its strategy until 2025 that cultural policy should be based on the understanding of cultural rights. Cultural rights are human rights as the United Nations Human Rights Council has declared. Still, Finland is found by the UN in violation of both the human rights and the cultural rights of the Sámi, the only indigenous peoples of Finland and the EU. This situation points out the very polarization and its forces within our political system.

The current legislation acknowledges the Sámi as an indigenous people, it has been affirmed in the Finnish Constitution. Also, the legislation includes the Sámi Language Act (1992, renewed 2003) and the Sámi Parliament Act (1995 / 2003). Sámi Parliament, as stated in the Sámi Parliament Act is a self-governing body with the objective of governing and preserving exactly the cultural rights:

“The Sámi, as an indigenous people, have linguistic and cultural autonomy in the Sámi homeland as provided in this Act and in other legislation. For the tasks relating to cultural autonomy, the Sámi shall elect from among themselves a Sámi Parliament”.

For these cultural rights and subsequently human rights to be actualized, the selfdetermination of the Sámi must be ensured. The self-determination of indigenous people and their cultural rights can function only together. Self-determination is also imperative for an indigenous people’s own willingness to preserve their distinct language and culture. In Finland, in addition to the existing legislation, true self-determination would be achieved by renewing the Sámi Parliament Act.

The current Sámi Parliament Act from 1996 includes the parameters of who can be determined as a Sámi and is the key in the renewed act. In the new act, the parameters of self-determination are determined by the Sámi Parliament itself and not appointed by the Finnish government. The renewed Sámi Parliament Act would thus in fact ensure and secure self-determination, improve the cultural autonomy and the prerequisite for operations concerning the preservation and development of Sámi culture and heritage. In addition, it would amend the current human rights violations for which Finland has received reprimands from the UN.

The debate on self-determination is still current as the Sámi Parliament Act has yet to be renewed. The situation has generated a lot of writing, some academic but also opinion pieces influenced by both sides of the debate. Passionate statements should be carefully reviewed through legislation as well as international cultural and human rights. However, the populists’ hate, and disinformation campaigns on the matter have been successful.

The right-wing populists’ disinformation campaigns against the Sámi can be traced back to the 1990s when ratifying the ILO169-convention was current and about to happen. At the heart of that convention is identifying and acknowledging the equal rights of the indigenous peoples and mending the damage done through colonizing and assimilating. Finland is yet to ratify ILO169-convention pending issues of land ownership and land use rights and arguing the current legislation already acknowledges the rights of the Sámi. It has been argued that Finland has not colonized another country as Sámi Homeland is legally a part of Finland, but the characteristics of colonialism are clear. The violent assimilation and the influences of the government and church traumatized the Sámi families and resulted in generations losing their mother tongue and subsequently their culture. A person denied a mother tongue, a common language with their community and ancestors cuts them from the culture and community itself. In effect traditions such as yoik and the Sámi folklore are lost. Means of communicating with older generations and history are lost. Even in translation, something is always lost. However, since the 1960s the Sámi people across Sámi Homeland have rigorously fought for the right to their own language and culture. The damages of assimilation cannot be remedied. Nonetheless, practices and policies to protect the current culture and languages can be done. Some of them await only the passing of the parliament, such as the renewed Sámi Parliament Act and ILO169.

Still today, the most extreme opinions even declare Finns to be just as indigenous as the Sámi and thus deny their indigenous cultural and human rights. These ideological extremes seek to exclude the Sámi themselves from taking part or being active agents in matters concerning their own rights, culture, and heritage. These entities within the polarized political system aim to maintain control over the Sámi Parliament with influences of the majority (Finnish) population with agendas of control and ownership of lands and businesses in the Sámi Homeland, and as such, deny the Sámi Parliament’s autonomy and the very task and objective to self-govern the Sámi language and culture. Renewal of the Sámi Parliament Act has made it to the Constitutional Committee 3 times, and 3 times it has been voted against.

The latest just before the parliamentary election last spring. These tactics of delaying and preventing the Act from going before the Finnish parliament only prove how polarization works.

The newly elected parliament led by the right-wing parties strolls from one scandal to another. Even though the government has promised to renew the Sámi Parliament Act, new concerns have already arisen with Finland joining NATO and the political forces in charge. Will, for example, the Arctic Railway threatening the Sámi livelihood become an issue again? And with the openly racist right-wing in political charge, concerns over the cultural and human rights of the Sámi are real and urgent. The threat is real. The arts and culture community has the possibility to stand with the Sámi and oppose the human rights violations happening as we speak. The arts and culture community can affect the cultural policy and through that provide support for Sámi artists and subsequently the entire Sámi community. 2020 Sámi Think Tank with prominent Sámi artists and culture figures concludes in their publication Kultur-Sápmi that to support the Sámi culture, infrastructure and funding must be organized and strengthened. In order to do this, more research on polarization from a cultural point of view is needed. What are the effects of polarization on the cultural rights and cultural heritage of minorities (in this case the Sámi)? Also, investigating equity and equality within arts and culture institutions and among funders is paramount.

Laura Valoma

The text is based on the writer’s literature review on Sámi cultural and linguistic rights in Finland and a presentation on Polarization and the Sámi held at the Finnish Conference on Cultural Policy Research in Rovaniemi 2023. The writer is not Sámi, an expert in Sámi matters nor presume to speak for the Sámi. However, the writer would like to be considered as an ally trying to utilize the space and opportunities in addressing these issues. The sources used are those of academic researchers, Sámi activists, and the Sámi Parliament