Speech by President Pirita Näkkäläjärvi at the United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP) in Geneva, 9 July, 2024

Madame Chair,

I am speaking in my capacity as the President of the Sámi Parliament in Finland.

The Indigenous Sámi People have had a long struggle for self-determination in Finland. Today I have news to report on the matter.

But before the news, let me explain the background. In Finland we, the Indigenous People Sámi, do not have a final say in who is entered in the electoral roll of the Sámi Parliament in Finland, the official representative of the Sámi that is supposed to be for the Sámi by the Sámi.

The key issue is that the Supreme Administrative Court lets Finnish persons into our electoral roll. These are persons that our Sámi Parliament bodies do not recognise as Sámi, and who do not fulfill the criteria for the right to vote. This is a clear violation of the right to self-determination of the Sámi in Finland and a violation of human rights. UN treaty bodies stated in 2019 and 2022 that on the matter of the electoral roll of the Sámi Parliament, Finland violates international human rights conventions, namely the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. Treaty bodies have also obliged Finland to amend the Sámi Parliament Act in a manner that respects Sámi self-determination.

As I reported at the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) in April, the Supreme Administrative Court let in 65 Finnish persons in our electoral roll this spring. The Court also ordered a repeat Sámi Parliament election this June on account of these 65 Finnish persons not having been able to vote and run in the Sámi Parliament election.

These are violations of Indigenous self-determination and not a credit to Finland.

Then the news I promised. This spring we, seven members of the Sámi Parliament Executive Board, made a human rights complaint to the UN Human Rights Committee about the electoral roll and repeat election matters. Our complaint has been registered.

More importantly, The UN Human Rights Committee stated in June that it requests the state of Finland to refrain from any retaliation measures against us, the authors of the complaint, for exercising our rights under the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights.

This is significant. Retaliation measures are a forbidden form of discrimination, and in my opinion such discrimination can, for example, in this case pertain to criminal investigation, coercive means by the police, and raising charges.

It is however nice to end with good news.

The repeat election of the Sámi Parliament in Finland was concluded last week. The election went very well for the Sámi – we won our own election! A significant majority of the new Sámi Parliament supports the amendment of the Sámi Parliament Act in accordance with UN treaty body decisions.

Finally, my calls to action. The Finnish Parliament suspended the Sámi Parliament Act amendment this spring due to the repeat election. Now that the repeat election is over, we urge the Finnish Parliament to finalise the amendment of the Sámi Parliament Act as soon as possible and approve the new proposal of the Sámi Parliament Act that was negotiated with us, the Sámi Parliament in Finland, and brought into the Finnish Parliament as a unanimous government bill. There are no more excuses.

Thank you, giitu, takkâ, spä’sseb.