As The Guardian reports, the report was published on Wednesday; it marked the conclusion of a four-year investigation and hundreds of interviews with Sámi people across Sweden. The document was to be presented at a ceremony with excerpts read to a government representative, but after the election earlier in the month there was still no new cabinet, and the report was handed to former Swedish culture minister Parisa Liljestrand. Commission chair Lena Nyberg told her: “We are handing over a great responsibility”, and Liljestrand called the process “historic”.
The commission said that Sweden had failed to meet its domestic and international human rights obligations. In its assessment, as a result, the Sámi today face serious difficulties in preserving and developing their culture. The report also says that problems with Sámi land rights were intensified by an ideology according to which the Sámi are a “lesser people”.
In the 71-point action plan, the commission recommends official apologies, financial compensation, completion of ratification of the International Labour Organization convention on indigenous and tribal peoples, the creation of a national center for redress and reconciliation, and better teaching of Sámi languages for children. The document says that responsibility for the policies and decisions that led to violations of Sámi rights should be borne by the Swedish parliament, government, authorities, and in some cases the Church of Sweden. The commission also says that the state failed to implement the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Separately, the commission proposes recognizing that the Swedish nation was founded on the lands of two peoples — the Sámi and the Swedes — and that parts of these territories have Sámi names and belong to Sámi cultural heritage. It also calls for recognition that Sápmi, the traditional region inhabited by the Sámi, extends beyond today’s state borders, and for ensuring the Sámi right to reindeer herding and other cultural practices on traditional lands. Similar commissions have already worked in Norway and Finland; Norway has issued official apologies, while discussions continue in Finland.
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