Angeli, Finland. 15 March 2005
Today, as local reindeer herders and Greenpeace activists defended the forest rights of indigenous Sàmi people in Arctic Lapland, the Finnish Minister for Foreign Affairs was busy abroad painting a rosy picture of Finland's human rights policy. Campaigners placed demarcation signs in an area of winter reindeer grazing forest important for the Muotkatunturi co-operative in Angeli, northern Lapland. The area is subject to a pending case in the UN Human Rights Committee. However, the state-owned forestry company Metsähallitus has not given up its plans to log the area. The logging would mean a violation of international human rights agreements signed by the Finnish government (1). The government has ignored the UN Human Rights Committee before. In 1996-1997 Metsähallitus logged an important winter grazing area in Angeli despite a complaint, which was being handled by the Committee.
At the UN Human Rights Commission's 61st session in Geneva, Mr Erkki Tuomioja gave a speech stating that Finland's objectives for its term of membership in the UN Human Rights Commission is to prevent discrimination of minorities and indigenous peoples. However, the Finnish government was recent criticised by the UN Human Rights Committee for discriminating against the rights of the Sàmi as indigenous people (2).
"Mr Tuomioja's hypocrisy is unbelievable. In his correspondence with Greenpeace he has avoided his responsibility by delegating this human rights conflict to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry," said Matti Liimatainen, Forest Campaigner. "Yet it is the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, which is charged with fulfilling international agreements and reporting about Finland's human rights commitments at these UN meetings. Finland can't demand human rights to be respected elsewhere and neglect international law at home."
A group of Greenpeace activists in Switzerland reminded the international community about the discrepancy in Finland's human rights promises. A group of activists unfolded a banner outside the UN venue Palais de Nations in Geneva saying: "Dear Finnish Minister of Foreign Affairs: Stop Trashing Sàmi Reindeer Forests".
"The logging of old-growth forests in the Sàmi homeland is unsustainable. If the intact forest landscapes disappear, we will loose biodiversity and ethnic diversity. The Sàmi culture and the traditional reindeer herding will also be endangered. We can't allow this to happen," said Liimatainen.
On 2 March, Greenpeace established a Forest Rescue Station in one of the threatened reindeer forest areas to highlight the ongoing destruction by Metsähallitus, the Finnish government's logging company and those paper companies that continue to buy this destruction.
For further information please contact:
Matti Liimatainen, Greenpeace Nordic (Lapland) + 358 400 346 329
Phil Aikman Greenpeace International (London) + 44 7801 212995
Mikael Sjövall, Greenpeace Nordic (Helsinki) + 358 50 3696 202
Notes to the editor:
1. UN Covenant for Civil and Political Rights, Article 2.
2. UN Human Rights Committee (November 2004):
"....regrets that it has not received a clear answer concerning the rights of the Sàmi as an indigenous people (Constitution, sect. 17, subsect. 3), in the light of article 1 of the Covenant. It reiterates its concern over the failure to settle the question of Sàmi rights to land ownership and the various public and private uses of land that affect the Sàmi's traditional means of subsistence - in particular reindeer breeding - thus endangering their traditional culture and way of life, and hence their identity." "The State party should, in conjunction with the Sàmi people, swiftly take decisive action to arrive at an appropriate solution to the land dispute with due regard for the need to preserve the Sàmi identity in accordance with article 27 of the Covenant. Meanwhile it is requested to refrain from any action that might adversely prejudice settlement of the issue of Sàmi land rights."
