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Kunnskapsdokumenter i offentlig sektor

Kartlegging

Norway’s Report to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of Indigenous Peoples

As an indigenous people, the Saami have the right to special protection. They have lived in what is now Norwegian territory since long before the establishment of the Norwegian state. The Saami people were subject for many years to a harsh assimilation policy that put great pressures on the Saami culture and language. However, the Norwegian authorities’ views on the Saami as an indigenous people have changed considerably during the last few decades. In 1980, a committee was appointed to study the legal rights of the Saami people, and it submitted its first report, Official Norwegian Report 1984:18, Legal Rights of the Saami People, in 1984. The proposals in this report resulted in a new statute, the Act of 12 June 1987 No. 56 relating to the Saami people, and the inclusion of a new article in the Constitution, Article 110a, which was adopted on 27 May 1988. Article 110a of the Constitution establishes the responsibility of the authorities to create conditions that enable the Saami people to safeguard and develop their language, culture and way of life. The Saami Act lays down administrative and language provisions in order to ensure compliance with the Constitution. The Sámediggi (the Saami Parliament) was established in 1987, pursuant to the Saami Act, and inaugurated in 1989. The Sámediggi is a democratically elected body whose representatives are elected by and from among the Saami people.