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The Saami Council, a transnational political organization representing the indigenous Saami people native to Sweden, Norway, Finland and Russia, played an instrumental role in the creation of democratically-elected Saami Parliaments in Finland, Norway and Sweden over the past three decades.  It recently recognized that there is still a lack of cross-border coordination between national and Saami parliaments, particularly on traditional reindeer herding and other environmental issues.   To promote cooperation on these issues, the Saami Council has built multiple constituencies across national borders and between indigenous and government organization. The Saami are an indigenous people who have inhabited the northern parts of Norway, Sweden and Finland, and much of the Kola Peninsula for over 10,000 years. There are well over 100,000 Saami people: 70,000 in Norway, 25,000 in Sweden, 7,000 in Finland and 3,000 in Russia.

Established in 1956, the Saami Council is a transnational political organization representing this body of indigenous people native to Scandinavia and Russia.   It emerged from the need for a fundamental connection between its peoples in order to promote cooperation between borders and preserve their rights as indigenous people.  To guarantee equal representation for Saami in various regions, the Council divides its seats to reflect the populations residing in each country.  It is comprised of 15 elected members, including four members from Sweden, five from Norway, four from Finland and two members from Russia.  These members are involved with national Saami organizations and partners in their respective regions.

One strategy the Saami have used has been consistently applying national and international standards to their own declarations and political establishments.  For example, the Saami Council drafted the Murmansk Declaration in 1996, defining the Saami as one nation irrespective of interstate borders, by calling on existing provisions from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Treaty of Social and Economic Rights, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Convention Concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries no. 169 as well as international anti-discrimination agreements.

Though united across national borders, the Saami also develop political bodies within their separate regions as a way to influence policy at local and national levels.  The Saami Council has given strong support to the creation of Saami Parliaments in its Scandinavian nations, first established in Finland in 1973, and then Norway and Sweden in 1987 and 1993, respectively.  Each parliament is an independent, democratically-elected political body that consults with their respective national parliaments on matters that are of interest to the Saami.  Though Saami Parliaments cannot pass their own legislation, they are able to promote initiatives before the national parliaments.

Now that three autonomous Saami Parliaments exist in each Scandinavian state, the Saami are using these bodies to leverage for transnational coordination of Saami issues.  To accomplish this goal the Saami Council is promoting a draft of the Nordic Saami Convention using a non-political group of experts from both Saami and non-Saami backgrounds.  The idea for the Saami Convention originated from the Council’s realization that a lack of coordination on indigenous issues exists.  Topics under consideration for the convention include the environment, cooperation between Saami parliaments and states, preservation of cultural heritage and other issues.
In order to build constituencies for the 2005 draft of the Nordic Saami Convention, the Saami are seeking support from international organizations in addition to Saami and non-Saami groups.  The Saami Council first gained support from the Nordic Council in the winter of 2001/2002.  The Nordic Council is a forum for inter-parliamentary cooperation among five countries and three autonomous territories in Northern Europe.  For the convention process, the Nordic Council provides additional support beyond the three Scandinavian nations involved in writing the draft.

After gaining international backing for the Nordic Saami Convention, the Saami Council then focused on building Saami and non-Saami support in their region.  It did this by planting the idea for a convention in relevant political bodies during the annual joint meeting with the ministers of Saami Affairs from Norway, Finland and Sweden and the presidents of each country’s respective Saami Parliament in November 2002.  After agreeing that a Nordic Saami Convention would build cross-border coordination, the attendees agreed to establish an expert group comprised of two representatives from each country, one Saami and one non-Saami, to draft the convention by 2005.

The Saami Council has recognized that their success on indigenous rights places them in a position to offer their experience as an example for other indigenous groups around the world.  For example, it has NGO status on the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and is active in other human rights areas.  It comments on reports submitted to monitoring and reporting bodies for various United Nations treaties and conventions, such as the Convention for the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the Convention on the Child.

The Saami Council has been instrumental in establishing the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and, in fact, a Norwegian Saami is currently chair of this UN body.
In addition, the Council played a significant role in creating the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights for Indigenous People.  Their most pressing international activity at the moment is drafting a Declaration of Human Rights for Indigenous People.

The success of the Saami Council can be attributed to its ability to organize its people simultaneously on local, national and international levels.  In this way they are able to use their cross-border unity to build constituencies and leverage for local policy changes.  At the same time, they are able to draw on its smaller, local organizations to provide support for larger, transnational coordination of Saami issues.

The Saami Council will be celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2006.

Photo credit: saamiblog