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<P align="justify">Convention concer … <P align="justify">Convention concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries (ILO No. 169). The International Labour Organization (ILO) drafted this Convention concerning indigenous and tribal peoples in 1969. By September 2001, the following states had ratified the Convention: Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Fiji, Guatemala, Honduras, Columbia, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru and Argentina.</p>
<P align="justify">The Convention defines as indigenous and tribal peoples those that have lived in their regions for centuries and who have retained some or all of their own social, economic, cultural and political institutions. Their standards of living are generally lower than those of the majority populations. The Convention attempts to guarantee them similar rights to those of national minorities, but their close relation with the lands and natural environments of the regions they have traditionally inhabited implies some special rights. According to Article 2 of the ILO Convention, its three major aims are </p>
(a) to ensure that members of these peoples benefit on an equal footing from the rights and opportunities which national laws and regulations grant to other members of the population; <BR>
(b) to promote the full realisation of the social, economic and cultural rights of these peoples with respect for their social and cultural identity, their customs and traditions and their institutions; <BR>(c) to assist the members of the peoples concerned to eliminate socio-economic gaps that may exist between indigenous and other members of the national community.<BR>
<P align="justify">Paragraph 2 of Article 1 emphasizes self-identification, stating: Self-identification as indigenous or tribal shall be regarded as a fundamental criterion for determining the groups to which the provisions of this Convention apply. And Paragraph 3 of the same Article stipulates that use of the term "peoples" in this Convention should not be construed as having any implications as regards the rights which may attach to the term under international law.</p>
<P align="justify">The Convention allows for the use of special measures, so-called positive discrimination in order to safeguard the persons, institutions, property, labour, cultures and environment of the peoples concerned with the agreement of the peoples being protected (Article 4).</p>
<P align="justify">The Convention contains several references to the concept of culture and to its importance with regard to measures concerning the economy and the land. For example, Article 13 stipulates that governments should respect the special importance for the cultures and spiritual values of the peoples concerned of their relationship with the lands or territories, or both as applicable, which they occupy or otherwise use, and in particular the collective aspects of this relationship . Several other articles also refer to the use of the land. Articles 13-19 define the right of indigenous and tribal peoples to the land, the environment and in part to the natural resources. The rights of the peoples concerned to the ownership and possession of the land must be recognized. This embraces collective rights. The [[Saami Parliament|Saami Parliament]] considers it important that the Convention provides for the right of indigenous peoples to the lands they traditionally inhabit and accepts that these rights have a collective nature.</p>
<P align="justify">The ILO Convention also contains stipulations on conditions of work, education, social security, means of communication, and contacts and cooperation across borders. Of these, the obligation of governments to provide appropriate resources for the establishment and operation of these people s own educational facilities (Article 27) is particularly noteworthy. The children of the peoples concerned must, wherever practicable, be taught to read and write in their own indigenous languages (Article 28).</p>
<P align="justify">Of particular significance in the ILO Convention is its recognition of the right of indigenous and tribal peoples to an identity and a way of life in their traditional lands. No attempt should be made to assimilate them into the majority population in the name of civilization. The contents of the new Convention (No. 169) are diametrically opposite to those of the previous one (No. 107) in that paternalism has been replaced by cultural equality and the acceptance of, and respect for, pluralism. The Saami Parliament considers it important that governments that have ratified the Convention should pledge themselves to taking special measures to safeguard the cultures and languages and the social and economic positions of indigenous peoples. The Convention obliges governments to maintain contacts with the indigenous peoples through their own organizations and institutions.</p>
<P align="justify">Finland has not yet been able to ratify the ILO Convention on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples because Finnish law does not correspond with the stipulations of the Convention regarding the rights of the Saami to the ownership and possession of the land and waters and the natural resources. In 1955, the Parliament of Finland in its response (EV 14.2. 19945/HE 248/1994 ) pertaining to matters including the cultural autonomy of the Saami called on the government make a report at the earliest instance on the means and practical consequences of removing obstacles to ratification of the ILO Convention. Moreover, the Parliament called for the report to be passed to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Constitution for immediate review.</p>
<P align="justify">The task of establishing the Saami rights to the land had been given to the [[Saami Delegation|Saami Delegation]] back in 1993 with the intention of producing a draft proposal for a government bill. The government was to give complete support for this work to the Saami Parliament (which took over from the Saami Delegation in 1996). The main reason for the slow progress in the task of defining the land rights, however, was the insufficient resources for it provided by the state. On 25 May 1999, the Finnish Ministry of Justice commissioned Pekka Vihervuori to draw up a report on the rights of the Saami to the lands, the waters and the natural resources and to their traditional sources of livelihood. At the beginning of the report, it is stated that the matter is connected with the debate on the cultural autonomy of the Saami and the question of the ratification of the ILO Convention, or rather of the removal of obstacles to its ratification. The Vihervuori report proposed that a land rights council for the homeland of the Saami should be established. Both the Saami and the local municipalities would be represented on the council, which would be a legal organ supervising the rights and interests of the Saami and the rest of the local population in questions regarding the use of the lands and the waters as provided for in the law. The land rights council was to be established for the period of office of the Saami Parliament. It would have four members nominated by the Saami Parliament and four representing the municipalities of the Saami homeland, each with a deputy member. The council would elect from among its members a chairperson and a vice-chairperson. An elected official of the Skolt Saami was to be given the opportunity to take part in meetings of the council, and an official of the Saami Parliament was to act as referendary to the council. Vihervuori's proposals were never presented in the form of a bill to the national parliament because of opposition to them by the Saami Parliament. Again in 2000, the Ministry of Justice set up a committee under Hannele Pokka, the Governor of the Province of Lapland, to establish the Saami s rights to the land and to draft a proposal for safeguarding the rights of the Saami living on state-owned land in the Saami Homeland to maintain their culture and their traditional occupations on the one hand, while on the other taking local conditions and their developmental needs into account. It was intended that after this proposal, Finland would be able to ratify the ILO Convention on Indigenous Peoples. The report of the committee was never presented to the state parliament. The task of elucidating the land rights of the Saami continues in both the Saami Parliament and in the Ministry of Justice. A working group set up by the Saami Parliament prepared the first part of its own report in 2002.</p>
<P align="justify">In Norway, a law proposal to establish the Saami s rights to the land (<i>Forslag til Lov om rettsforhold og forvaltning av grunn og naturressurser i Finnmark fylke (Finnmarksloven) Od. prp. nr. 53 (2002-2003)</i>) was published 2002. An instrument that would satisfy the requirements of the Convention may be the Finnmark Land Administration (<i>Grunnforvaltning</i>), which is made up of representatives of the municipalities and the Saami population of the region. However.the law proposal didn't satisfy the Saami Parliament. Thus the task of elucidating the land rights of the Saami continues. In Sweden such a body might be constituted by the Lapp Villages, which have long been recognized by the law and which operate as a collective legal organ in the reindeer husbandry legislation of the Saami. The task of elucidating the possibilities of ratifying the ILO convention was initiated in Sweden in February 1999.</p>
<P align="justify">Finland and Sweden have thus not ratified ILO Convention No. 169. The subjects of this Convention are indigenous peoples as groups. The convention has nothing to say about the rights of individual members of indigenous peoples, and therefore it makes no attempt to define such persons. Finland has defined the Saami as an indigenous people in Section 17 §:n 3 of the Finnish Constitution. By ratifying the ILO-convention Norway has recognised the Saami as an indigenous people. According to the constitution of Finland, Section 110 (a) of the Codicil to the Norwegian Constitution and Section 1 (2 §) of the Swedish Constitution the Saami indigenous people has the right to maintain and develop its own language and culture. The Saami Parliaments were established to implement [[Cultural self-government|cultural self-determination]]. </p>|cultural self-determination]]. </p> +
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