Sweden: UN experts call for scrapping of iron ore mine | News | DW
Two UN human rights experts called on Sweden to scrap the plans for an iron ore mine on Thursday.
The independent experts, Jose Francisco Cali Tzay, a special rapporteur for indigenous peoples’ rights, and David Boyd, the special rapporteur for human rights and the environment, asked the Swedish government to withhold a license for the proposed project.
They said that the mine would create a significant amount of toxic waste and other pollutants and would cause “irreversible risks” for land used by Sweden’s indigenous Sami people.
The British company Beowulf Mining and the Swedish subsidiary Jokkmokk Iron Mines AB are seeking permission from the Swedish state to proceed with the plans for the iron ore mine.
The Sami have expressed concern about the proposed mine and said that it would disrupt reindeer husbandry, as well as hunting and fishing and destroy the land.
The Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg joined a protest that the Sami organized against the proposed mine over the weekend.
“The future of humanity should be prioritized over a company’s short-term profit,” Thunberg said in a statement.
Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg joined indigenous activists over the weekend in a protest against the proposed mine
What are the concerns of the UN experts?
The mine, proposed for the Gallok region, has proceeded without “free, prior and informed consent” from the indigenous Sami, UN independent experts claimed.
The rights experts said that the proposed open pit mine could endanger the lives and livelihood of the Sami, as well as interrupt the migration of reindeer that the Sami make a pilgrimage to be able to support themselves.
The experts pointed to a law adopted by the Swedish authorities on 27 January, which has not yet entered into force but which states that the government is obliged to consult with the Sami on documents that affect them.
In a statement, the experts noted: “Insufficient assessment and recognition has been made of the environmental damage that the mine will cause.”
UN rapporteurs work on a voluntary basis with a mandate from the UN-backed Human Rights Council. They do not represent the UN in their official capacity.
Who are the Sami?
The Sami are native to the Sampi region in a part of Sweden historically called Lapland.
An estimated 20,000 to 40,000 Sami live in Sweden, out of approximately 100,000 Sami living in Sweden and in the vast Arctic wilderness in northern Finland, Norway and the Kola Peninsula in Russia.
Their lifestyle is in danger due to industrial mining and forestry, which encroach on their pastures.
For much of the 20th century, the Sami people were the target of state politics, treating their culture as inferior.
In recent years, the governments of Finland, Norway and Sweden – but not Russia – have moved to atone for a brutal past by returning artifacts stolen from the Sami people and intensifying efforts to investigate previous policies against them.
The Sami claim that their rights are not recognized and that their land remains vulnerable to exploitation when governments court foreign mining companies.
ar / sms (AFP, AP)