Evolution of Indigenous Peoples’ Rights as Human Rights: Contribution of Sámi Rights Cases at UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies

Over four decades, Indigenous Sámi individuals and communities have submitted to United Nations human rights treaty bodies, including the Human Rights Committee, several complaints in respect of the three Nordic countries Finland, Norway, and Sweden. Many of these Sámi rights cases have made important contributions to the understanding and application of Indigenous peoples’ rights globally, in addition to pushing for awareness and reform at home. Focusing on a new line of cases decided since the late 2010s, we show how this evolution has occurred in respect of the understanding of indigeneity; the right of Indigenous peoples to self-determination; the relevance of the 2007 UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in the interpretation of legally binding human rights treaties (including concerning the principle of free, prior, and informed consent); the concept of ‘culture’ in the context of Indigenous peoples; the intergenerational nature of the right to enjoy one’s culture; the positive obligation of states to afford differentiated treatment to Indigenous peoples (including whether failure to do so is a form of discrimination); the relevance for states’ human rights obligations of adverse impacts of climate change towards the Sámi and others; and the gradual emergence of coherence across different human rights treaties. We hope to make a contribution to the field through our analysis of UN human rights treaty body cases that so far have not been discussed in academic scholarship, as well as through our focus on cases brought by Indigenous Sámi.