Scandinavian nations create commissions to investigate crimes against indigenous peoples
The governments of Sweden and Finland set up truth commissions to examine the countries’ previous treatment of and abuses against the region’s Sami minority.
Keyword:
- The Swedish government wants to “facilitate reconciliation”
- The Finnish Truth Commission will collect the Sámi experiences of state action
- Finland’s report is expected no later than November 2023 and Sweden’s at the end of 2025
The Swedish government said on Wednesday that its commission would be tasked with mapping and investigating the policies that affect the Sami and their implementation.
“It feels very good that we can finally appoint a truth commission,” says Sweden’s Minister of Culture and Democracy Amanda Lind in a statement.
The minister also said that increasing awareness of “historical injustices” was important to “facilitate reconciliation”.
Last week, a similar initiative was launched in neighboring Finland, when the government officially appointed a truth and reconciliation commission to “collect the Sami experiences of the Finnish state’s actions”.
The independent Finnish panel, whose five members were appointed by both the government and Sami representatives, is expected to begin hearing testimonies in the coming weeks and will submit its final report in November 2023.
The Commission would also be tasked with disseminating knowledge about the history of the Sámi and how past abuses affect the Sámi today.
The Sami are believed to have come to the region at the end of the last ice age.
Victims of a brutal assimilation policy in the past, today they have been recognized as an indigenous people and have their own parliament in Sweden, but rights groups continue to condemn the state’s handling of Sami issues.
Even though Sweden does not include ethnicity in any censuses, the Sami Parliament estimates that there are between 20,000 and 40,000 Sami living in the country.
Of these, between 2,500 and 3,000 feed on traditional reindeer husbandry, closely linked to Sami culture.
Members of the Swedish Commission have not yet been appointed, but according to the government, it would be tasked with presenting its results by 1 December 2025.
Representatives of the Sami Parliament, which together with Sami interest groups requested that the Swedish government establish a truth commission in 2019, welcomed the announcement.
– It is now time for the history and reality of the Sami people to emerge, says Marie Persson Njajta, chair of the Sami Parliament’s group for a truth commission.
AFP