Statement from the Church of Sweden concerning Sami rights

Due to the critical opinions expressed in the media following the General Synod, the Secretary-General of the Church of Sweden wishes to clarify the Church of Sweden’s work that supports Sami rights.

“It is unfortunate that many Sami have obviously gained the impression from the media reports that the General Synod opposed ratification of ILO Convention 169. This is not the case. In its decision, the General Synod has not taken a stance on the convention itself at all,” explains Helén Ottosson Lovén, Secretary-General of the Church of Sweden.

“The Standing Committee of the Church of Sweden General Synod” was positive to the intention of the motion’s proposer to work for Sami rights, but the committee was of the opinion that work is already in progress in the direction requested by the motion’s proposer,” explains the Secretary-General.

On 19 November the General Synod decided to reject a motion concerning support to Sami rights (motion 2014:4). The motion proposed that the Central Board of the Church of Sweden should be tasked with encouraging the Government and the Riksdag (the Swedish Parliament) to give support for “ratification of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples”. When the committee discussed the motion it was observed that the Central Board of the Church of Sweden has implemented and is planning measures in this direction, and that no additional assignments are required because active advocacy work is already in progress. The General Synod adopted the committee’s line.

In the past three years the Church of Sweden has intensified its advocacy work regarding Sami issues, nationally and internationally. The aim is to strengthen the human rights of the Sami in Sweden, highlight the situation of the Sami and influence international review bodies and Swedish decision-makers.

The Church of Sweden has also started work to highlight the Church’s treatment of the Sami throughout history. A white paper will be published in 2015 in cooperation with Umeå University. Work is in progress to compile Sami experiences from schools for Sami children – schools formerly known as Nomadskolan – and to make this part of Sami history better known in Sweden. This work will be reported on in 2015. These measures aim to heal the relationship between the Sami people and the Church of Sweden and increase understanding of Sami experiences. The Church of Sweden also wants to urge Swedish authorities to take responsibility for the treatment of the Sami throughout history and the consequences of the policies implemented in relation to them.

A great deal remains to be done, and the Church of Sweden’s work to support the Sami continues.

“Archbishop Antje Jackelén is a driving force in these issues. On 13 December she will meet several church leaders in Uppsala for discussions and a seminar on various topics including the rights of indigenous peoples and reconciliation in the context of indigenous peoples,” says Helén Ottosson Lovén.

The Church of Sweden’s action for the rights of indigenous peoples

In recent years the Church of Sweden and its representatives have been actively furthering issues concerning the human rights of the Sami and specifically the rights of indigenous peoples. A few examples:

In the summer of 2014 the Church of Sweden wrote a critical report to the UN Human Rights Council in conjunction with the assessment of human rights in Sweden. The report, Human Rights Challenges in Sweden, contains criticism that the Swedish Government has not taken sufficient action to put the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples into practice. In addition, it notes that the legal protection for the rights of indigenous peoples is too weak in Sweden, and that the human rights of the Sami are not fully respected, for example in land use issues, or in education and healthcare. The Church of Sweden therefore urges the Government to take greater responsibility for the rights of indigenous peoples.

The Church of Sweden has raised the issue of Sami rights in two critical reports, Våga vara minoritet (Dare to be a minority) and Marginalized and Ignored, to the Council of Europe in March 2012 and December 2013. The reports particularly highlighted the right of Sami children to their own language, increased racism against the Sami, and the affect on the Sami of various kinds of land encroachment.

In August 2013 Anders Wejryd, who was the Archbishop at that time, highlighted Sami rights and climate change issues in an article for discussion in the Swedish morning newspaper Dagens Nyheter (articlein Swedish).

Anders Wejryd also previously urged MPs in Sweden to take responsibility at a seminar about a Nordic Sami convention in the Parliamentary Committee on the Constitution (article in Swedish).

The situation of young Sami was highlighted in an article for discussion in the Uppsala newspaper UNT in June 2014, at seminars in March 2014 (rhttps://internwww.svenskakyrkan.se/832521 and https://internwww.svenskakyrkan.se/824018) and during the Swedish Forum for Human Rights in Umeå in November 2014. 

A seminar about the consequences of mining affecting the Sami as an indigenous people was organised in September 2012.

In international advocacy work within the World Council of Churches, the Church of Sweden has also urged for increased respect for the rights of indigenous peoples. The Church of Sweden also sent a Sami representative to the Global Indigenous Preparatory Conference in Alta, Norway, in the summer of 2013 and to the UN World Conference on Indigenous Peoples in New York in September 2014.