Rights of indigenous peoples in Europe: introduction and starting points for research

Written by Hester Swift, IALS Foreign and International Law Librarian | 06 Jan 2025

Low sunlight at Øksfjorden in Loppa, Troms og Finnmark, Norway, 2022

European indigenous peoples include the Sámi, who inhabit the far north of Finland, Norway, Sweden and Russia, and other peoples living in Russia. The Inuit of Greenland are sometimes counted as European indigenous peoples too, because Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark.[1] The situation is different in Greenland, however: it is self-governing (and progressing towards independence) and almost 90% of the population are Inuit.[2] Nevertheless, the Greenlandic Inuit do have much in common with the Sámi and other indigenous peoples, including oppression by European state authorities under past policies of cultural assimilation.[3]

There are more than 160 indigenous peoples in Russia, according to the definition used by the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs,[4] but the government gives legal recognition to forty-seven ‘small-numbered’ peoples only.[5] Forty of these live in the North, Siberia and the Far East: Sámi, Veps, Aleuts and many more;[6] the other seven are the Abazins, Besermens, Vod, Izhorian, Nagaybak, Setos and Shapsugs.[7] Some inhabit European parts of Russia, but most are located in its Asian regions.[8]

The principal international instruments covering indigenous peoples are the International Labour Organization’s Convention Concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples (1989) and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP, 2007).[9] The ILO convention has been ratified by Denmark and Norway, but not by Finland, Sweden or Russia.[10] Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden voted in favour of the UN Declaration, while Russia abstained;[11] Russia’s Code of Northern Peoples says that when UNDRIP was adopted ‘the Russian Federation already had national legal norms in force that were in line with its provisions’.[12] Nevertheless, in 2014 all UN member states agreed to take steps to ‘achieve the ends’ of the Declaration.[13]

European treaties relevant to indigenous rights include the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ECRML) and the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (FCNM).[14] The FCNM can be applied to indigenous peoples ‘notwithstanding that indigenous peoples and national minorities are, in principle, to be considered as different legal categories.’[15] Russia has denounced the minorities convention and its signature of the languages charter is considered to have been suspended; the Nordic states are participants in both treaties.[16]

The Sámi parliaments of Finland, Norway and Sweden have jointly drafted a ‘Nordic Sámi Convention’,[17] which would reinforce indigenous rights. However, after many years of negotiations the convention has still to be approved.[18] (The Sámi parliaments are representative, consultative and advisory bodies – they do not have legislative powers.)

The constitutions of Finland, Norway and Sweden offer certain protections to the Sámi, while the Russian constitution recognises the forty-seven ‘indigenous small-numbered peoples’.[19] Each state has also passed laws covering linguistic, cultural and other rights: for example, Finland’s Sámi Language Act, Norway’s Finnmark Act and the Federal Law on Guarantees of the Rights of Indigenous Small-Numbered Peoples of the Russian Federation.[20]

The preamble to the Act on Greenland Self-Government states that Greenlanders are ‘a people under international law with the right to self-determination’[21] and the draft Greenlandic constitution, presented to Inatsisartut (the Greenlandic parliament) in 2023, recognises that ‘Inuit are the indigenous people of our land…This must never be forgotten and must be praised, considered and protected at all times’.[22]

In recent years there have been several Nordic supreme court rulings supporting the rights of the Sámi. The Swedish Supreme Court ruled in favour of Sámi reindeer herding rights in the 2011 Nordmaling judgment.[23] In 2020, the Supreme Court of Finland decided that the Sámi of Girjas had an exclusive hunting and fishing right.[24] In the Fosen case, the following year, the Supreme Court of Norway ruled that licences to build wind farms violated the rights of Sámi reindeer herders.[25] In 2022, the Finnish Supreme Court upheld the dismissal of charges against Sámi people for fishing and game offences.[26] However, some rulings have been less favourable: for example, the 2017 Jovsset Ánte Sara reindeer cull decision by the Supreme Court of Norway (which has been criticised by the UN Human Rights Council) and the Karasjok land rights judgment of May 2024.[27]

In the last few years, the four Nordic countries have taken steps to address past wrongs regarding their treatment of indigenous peoples. Norway established a Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2018 to investigate the impact of its historic policies regarding the Sámi (as well as two ‘national minorities’, the Kvens and the Forest Finns); the final report came out in 2023.[28] The Finnish government appointed a Truth and Reconciliation Commission concerning the Sámi in 2021 and a Swedish Truth Commission was set up the following year to examine Sweden’s treatment of the Sámi.[29] The Danish and Greenlandic governments have commissioned an official report into the history of the Danish-Greenlandic relationship, appointing researchers in early 2024.³⁰ Although Greenland previously established its own Reconcilation Commission, the Danish government decided not to take part in the process; the Commission published its final report in 2017.[31]

Both official and academic sources, as well as NGO reports, have pointed out gaps in legal protections of European indigenous people, or questioned the effectiveness of some existing measures.[32] In the last few years, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples has raised some concerns about the situation of European indigenous peoples, as has the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII).[33] Dorothée Cambou and Øyvind Ravna recognise the advances that have been made in Sámi rights in the Nordic countries, but highlight the ongoing threats to Sámi land from mining and green energy operations.[34] Researchers interested in this topic will find suggested reading, research tips and links below.

Yoshifumi Tanaka, Rachael Johnstone and Vibe Ulfbeck (ed.s), The Routledge Handbook of Polar Law (Routledge 2023): section B, ‘Rights of Indigenous Peoples’.

Dorothée Cambou and Øyvind Ravna, The Significance of Sámi Rights: law, justice, and sustainability for the indigenous Sámi in the Nordic countries (Routledge 2023) (open access).

Christina Allard and Susann Funderud Skogvang, Indigenous Rights in Scandinavia: Autonomous Sámi Law (Routledge 2015).

Nigel Bankes, Timo Koivurova and others, ‘Legal Systems’, in Joan Nymand Larsen and Gail Fondahl (ed.s), Arctic Human Development Report: Regional Processes and Global Linkages (Nordic Council of Ministers 2015): examines the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, other international instruments, EU legislation and national laws.

P.V. Gogolev, Konstitut︠s︡ionno-pravovye osnovy gosudarstvennoĭ politiki v otnoshenii korennykh malochislennykh narodov Severa, Sibiri i Dalʹnego Vostoka Rossii: monografii︠a︡ (Constitutional and legal foundations of state policy with regard to small indigenous peoples of the North, Siberia and the Russian Far East: a monograph) (Moscow University Press 2014).

James Anaya, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people. Addendum: The situation of the Sami people in the Sápmi region of Norway, Sweden and Finland. A/HRC/18/35/Add.2 (United Nations 2011).

Nigel Bankes and others, ‘Legal Systems’, in Níels Einarsson, Joan Nymand Larsen, Annika Nilsson and Oran R. Young (eds.), AHDR: Arctic Human Development Report (Stefansson Arctic Institute 2004): covers the Sámi and other Arctic peoples, outlining constitutional protections and other national laws.

Adrienne Davidson and Veldon Coburn, Multiculturalism Policy Index: Indigenous Peoples, 2nd ed. (Queen's University, Kingston, 2021): rates the Nordic states, but not Russia, for their recognition of indigenous rights and indigenous customary law, support for international instruments on indigenous rights, and other policies.

Minority Rights Group (MRG), World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples: formerly a print publication, now part of MRG’s World Map.

International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA), The Indigenous World, formerly IWGIA Yearbook (annual, 1986 - ).

Indigenous Peoples Secretariat (Arctic Council), Indigenous Peoples of the Arctic: information page with map, timeline and videos.

Regional titles:

Arctic Review on Law and Politics (Cappelen Damm Akademisk, 2010 - )

Baltic Yearbook of International Law (Brill, 2001 - )

European Yearbook of Minority Issues (Kluwer Law International, 2003 - )

Journal on Ethnopolitics and Minority Issues in Europe (ECMI, 2001 - )

Nordic Journal of International Law, formerly Nordisk tidsskrift for international ret (Nordisk Tidsskrift for International Ret / Brill, 1930 - )

Northern Review (Northern Review Society, 1988 - )

Yearbook of Polar Law (Brill, 2009 - )

General titles:

Indigenous Law Bulletin (Indigenous Law Centre, University of New South Wales, 1981 - )

Indigenous Law Journal (University of Toronto Faculty of Law, 2002 - )

Indigenous Peoples' Journal of Law, Culture and Resistance (UCLA School of Law, 2004 - )

International Community Law Review, formerly International Law FORUM du Droit International (Brill, 1999 - )

International Journal on Minority and Group Rights, formerly International Journal of Group Rights (Brill, 1993 - )

Legal Pluralism and Critical Social Analysis, formerly Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law - focuses on the co-existence of different legal orders, including indigenous legal norms and state law (UCLA/Taylor and Francis, 1981 - )

Marci Hoffman (ed.), Foreign Law Guide: online encylopedia published by Brill; lists Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish and Russian - but not Danish - laws relating to indigenous peoples. (Available to authorised users via IALS Library’s Law Databases page).

Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, ‘Constitutions, laws, legislation… through which States have taken measures to achieve the ends of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples…’ A/HRC/57/62 (United Nations, 2024).

FAOLex database: has English summaries of constitutional provisions, environmental laws and some other legislation, with links to the original documents; use Advanced Search and select ‘indigenous peoples’ from the keywords menu.

United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, ‘State of the World’s Indigenous Peoples’ (United Nations, 2009 - ): these periodic reports include details of the national (and international) legal frameworks, as well as assessing their implementation.

Banting and Kymlicka, ‘Multiculturalism Policy Index’ (Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada): cites Danish, Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish (but not Russian) legislation on indigenous rights.

A. Gavrilenko, D. Ryakhovsky and Y. Yakel (ed.s), ‘Code of Northern Peoples: Collection of legal acts on the rights of indigenous small-numbered peoples of Russia’ (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation 2023): compilation of unofficial English translations; includes the Unified List of Indigenous Small-Numbered Peoples.

IALS Library, Nordic Countries research guide: covers sources of legislation from Nordic jurisdictions.

See also:

Finnish Ministry of Justice: Rights of the Sámi people
Norwegian Government: The foundation for Sami policy
Swedish Institute: Sami in Sweden

IALS Library, Nordic Countries research guide, ‘Law reports’ section: links to court websites and details of other sources for researching cases from Nordic jurisdictions.

Domstolene i Grønland (Courts of Greenland): case summaries from Greenland (in Danish).

National human rights institutions (see Our Members - ENNHRI): these bodies sometimes cover cases on indigenous rights in press releases and other publications.

HUDOC: database of European Court of Human Rights decisions.

OHCHR Jurisprudence database: cases concerning complaints under the UN human rights treaties.

See also: journals focusing on indigenous rights (listed above), which cover key cases.

Arctic Council: intergovernmental forum for cooperation between the Arctic states (Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United States); indigenous peoples’ groups are permanent participants.

Northern Institute for Environmental and Minority Law (NIEM), Arctic Centre, University of Lapland: publishes the Juridica Lapponica research paper series and other material.

Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North (RAIPON): public body that represents the interests of indigenous peoples in Russia.

Sámi Council: NGO promoting Sámi rights in Finland, Norway, Sweden and Russia; the website includes reports and declarations in English.

Secretariat of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages: provides evaluation reports, recommendations and the Collection of Council of Europe and OSCE National Minority Standards.

Secretariat of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities: has thematic commentaries on the Convention, monitoring reports and other information.

United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: advisory body to the UN Human Rights Council; produces reports and studies on matters affecting indigenous peoples.

United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII): an advisory body made up of indigenous peoples’ representatives.

UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples: appointed by the Commission on Human Rights as part of the Human Rights Council’s Special Procedures system.

Image in header: Øksfjorden in Loppa, Troms og Finnmark photographed in 2022.

Simo Räsänen, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

Hester Swift is the IALS Foreign and International Law Librarian.

Profile

Rights of indigenous peoples in Europe: introduction and starting points for research

Resources for researching indigenous rights in Europe

Introductory works

Reference sources

Journals

Legislation

Cases

Websites

References

Footnotes

Image Credit

Hester Swift