The Proposed Nordic Saami Convention

In 2005 an expert group representing the governments of Norway, Sweden and Finland, and the Saami parliaments of these countries agreed upon a draft text of a Nordic Saami Convention. Key parts of the text deal with the recognition of Saami land and resource rights. More recently the three governments have embarked on negotiations to move from this draft text to a final convention that may be adopted and ratified by all three countries. Negotiations commenced in the Spring of 2011 and should be completed within five years. This collection of essays explores the national and international dimensions of indigenous property rights and the draft Convention which recognises the Saami as one people divided by international boundaries.

Part one of the book seeks to provide a global and theoretical context for these developments in the Nordic countries, with a series of essays dealing with the moral and legal reasons for recognising indigenous property interests and different conceptualisations of the relationship between indigenous peoples and settler societies, including recognition, reconciliation and pluralism. Part two of the book examines some international legal issues associated with the Convention, including the background to the Convention. Part three turns to examine aspects of the recognition of Saami property interests in each of the three Nordic states, while Part four provides some comparative experiences, examining the recognition of indigenous property rights in a number of jurisdictions, including Canada, Australia and a number of South American states. An additional essay considers gender issues in relation to indigenous property rights.

Introduction
Nigel Bankes and Timo Koivurova
PART ONE: DOCTRINAL AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS
1. Recognising the Property Interests of Indigenous Peoples within Settler Societies: Some Different Conceptual Approaches
Nigel Bankes
2. Acknowledging and Accommodating Legal Pluralism: An Application to the Draft Nordic Saami Convention
Jonnette Watson Hamilton
3. The Public-Law Dimension of Indigenous Property Rights
Jeremy Webber
PART TWO: THE PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL LAW DIMENSIONS OF THE DRAFT NORDIC SAAMI CONVENTION
4. Can Saami Transnational Indigenous Peoples Exercise Their Self-Determination in a World of Sovereign States?
Timo Koivurova
5. The Nordic Saami Convention: The Right of a People to Control Issues of Importance to Them
Leena Heinämäki
6. Cross-Border Reindeer Husbandry: Between Ancient Usage Rights and State Sovereignty
Else Grete Broderstad
PART THREE: SAAMI LAND AND REINDEER-GRAZING RIGHTS IN THE THREE NORDIC STATES
7. The Draft Nordic Saami Convention and the Assessment of Evidence of Saami Use of Land
Øyvind Ravna
8. Who Holds the Reindeer-herding Right in Sweden? A Key Issue in Legislation
Christina Allard
9. The Draft Nordic Saami Convention and the Indigenous Population in Finland
Juha Joona
10. The Subjects of the Draft Nordic Saami Convention
Tanja Joona
11. On Customary Law Among the Saami People
Elina Helander-Renvall
PART FOUR: THE RECOGNITION OF INDIGENOUS LAND RIGHTS IN OTHER JURISDICTIONS
12. The Achuar People in Ecuador: Towards Territorial and Political Autonomy
Verónica Potes
13. The Australian Approach to Recognising the Land Rights of Indigenous Peoples: The Native Title Act 1993 (Cth)
Sharon Mascher
14. The Forms of Recognition of Indigenous Property Rights in Settler States: Modern Land Claim Agreements
in Canada
Nigel Bankes
15. The Nordic Saami Convention and the Rights of Saami Women: Lessons from Canada
Jennifer Koshan
Conclusion
Nigel Bankes and Timo Koivurova

“...a significant contribution to our understanding of this area of property rights and offers an enlightening vision of how a resolution might look in one area of the world comprising northern Finland, Norway, Sweden and the Kola Peninsula in the Russian Federation...The editors and the publisher ought to be rightfully proud of this book...[It] makes an important contribution to understanding Indigenous peoples' property rights and human rights in respect of lands and resources. It is an impressive contribution to the rapidly growing discipline of Indigenous peoples' rights – including human rights – to lands and waters. Much of the work in this book is applicable to all settler States. It deserves to be widely read and considered.” –  Jacinta Ruru, Journal of Human Rights and the Environment, Vol. 4 No. 2

“…these contributions are not only methodically ordered, they also contribute to providing the reader with a clearer and fuller picture of the draft Nordic Saami Convention and its wider context...it will be of interest to readers who are interested in indigenous, albeit not in Saami, issues. For readers with an interest in the rights of the Saami, though, this collection is indispensable.” –  Stefan Kirchner, The Polar Journal, 3:2

“…most chapters in the anthology are highly informative and offer great insight into complex issues. The book can therefore be recommended to anyone interested in indigenous peoples' rights.” –  Mattias Åhrén, Nordic Journal of Human Rights, Volume 32. Number 3. 2014

“Overall, the collection delivers what it promises: a consideration of the convention within an international and comparative law perspective. The various contributions provide the reader with a useful and timely reference work on the draft convention as well as insightful analyses of some of its key substantive provisions...For those who teach indigenous legal issues in a Canadian context, it provides a useful comparative tool that relativizes the issue of “race” and provides a broader perspective for considering colonization and indigenous claims in Canada.” –  Darren O'Toole, Canadian Yearbook of International Law