Human rights at stake in the Circumpolar Regions

• Author: Øyvind Ravna
• Pages: 1-3

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Leader

Human rights at stake in the

Circumpolar Regions

Øyvind Ravna

Respect for human rights is among the most basic requirements individuals and

groups can demand of the authorities of their countries. Such rights therefore

enjoy constitutional and legal protection in most countries with a democratic

form of government, while the international commun ity has entered into binding

agreements to ensure that these rights are upheld. ese agreements apply to the

protection of human rights in general, and specically t hose aecting t he welfare

of vulnerable groups such as children, women, and minorities.

Numbering within the se vulnerable g roups are indigenous pe oples. eir rights

to the enjoyment of their cultures, lands, or languages, have been under continu-

ing pressure from a time long past, when the non-indigenous population appro-

priated their lands and suppressed their culture. is has been the situation in

Scandinavia, America, Russia, Australia, and the Far East.

Entering into the 21st century, there have been signicant positive changes in

these areas. Indigenous people are now invited to participate in bodies that have

inuence on the governance of the High Nor th such as the Arctic Coun cil, and it is

no longer politic ally accepta ble not to consult indigenou s people when plans, pro -

jects and legislation aecting them are adopted. e 1993 Nunavut Land Claims

Agreement in Canada, t he 2005 Finnmark Act in Norway as well as the i ncreased

participation the indigenous peoples of the Yamal Region in Russia in manage-

ment of the area’s rich natural resources, are also to be mentioned as positive

developments.

However, the Sami Counci l’s human rights exper t Mattias Åhrén has observed

that the Norwegian e agerness to establish mining activ ities in core Sámi reindeer-

herding areas could be in contradiction with human rights a s internationally rec-

ognized. e same holds for the failure to recognize the historical rights of the

Coastal Sámi to sh in the coastal waters, as was an issue in the Report on the

Arctic Revie w on Law and Politics, vol. 4 , 1/2013 pp. 1–3. ISSN 1891-6252