The Sámi Parliamentary Council appeals to Prime Minister Marin to ensure the right of the Sámi to self-determination

The Sámi Parliamentary Council (SPC) asks Prime Minister Marin to promote the realisation of the rights of the Sámi to self-determination and understanding of indigenous rights together with the state leadership of Finland, Sweden and Norway. The petition was presented to Marin on Thursday morning in Brussels as she was visiting the Summit of Barents Euro-Arctic Indigenous Sámi People. The SPC also urges state leadership to remember the Sámi people in Russia as the war continues.

The SPC highlights recent examples of challenges related to the right of the Sámi to self-determination in various countries, including the reformation of the Sámi Parliament Act in Finland. The SPC asks states to ensure that indigenous rights to self-determination are understood on all levels of decision-making: locally, nationally and at the level of the European Union. Furthermore, the SPC expresses concerns over the difficult situation faced by the Sámi people in Russia as Russia’s offensive war against Ukraine continues, and asks for their plight not to be forgotten.

The petition has been signed by Presidents of the Nordic Sámi Parliaments, Tuomas Aslak Juuso, Silje Karine Muotka and Håkan Jonsson, who also acts as the President of the SPC. Presidents Jonsson and Muotka handed the petition to Prime Minister Marin together with Anni Koivisto, First Vice Chair of the Sámi Parliament of Finland.

The petition of the Sámi Parliamentary Council is available here.

Further information:
Tuomas Aslak Juuso
President
+358 40 687 3394
tuomas.juuso(at)samediggi.fi

Inka Saara Arttijeff
Secretary for International Affairs
+358 50 574 7629
inka-saara.arttijeff(at)samediggi.fi