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<P align= justify > Language legisla … <P align= justify > Language legislation is the laws and statutes governing the use of language particularly in states where more than one language is spoken. Language legislation defines the language to be used in dealing with public authorities and the language in which the authorities must issue their documents (the external official language), as well as the language used in internal documents and correspondence between the authorities (the internal official language). Language legislation also includes the language skills required of public officials and regulations concerning the language of instruction used in state educational facilities. </P>
<P align= justify > In the 1980s, several committees and work groups were set up to establish the position of Saami culture and the Saami language and to propose measures for preserving and promoting them. In Norway, a Saami Cultural Committee was established, whose first report <I>Samisk kultur og utdanning</I> [Saami Culture and Education] was published in 1985 (NOU 1985:14). The report proposed the foundations for a cultural and educational policy and recommended a bill for a Saami Language Act. The Saami Act (<I>Lov om sametinget og andre samiske retthold</I>) came into force in 1987. Its purpose was to create conditions in which the Saami ethnic group could safeguard and develop their own language, culture and society. Regulations regarding the Saami language were appended to Chapter 3 of the Act in 1990. These regulations apply to an area called the [[Saami Language Administrative Areas|Saami Language Administrative Area]] (<I>Forvaltningsområde for samisk språk</I>), which comprises the municipalities of Karasjok, Kautokeino, Porsanger, Tana and Uuniemi in the Province of Finnmark and Kåfjord in the Province of Tromsø. In the municipalities the provisions of the Saami Act regarding the Saami language apply to local and regional public authorities. In four of the municipalities making up theSaami Administrative Area, Saami-speakers constitute majorities. Outside the Administrative Are, certain language regulations also apply, for example in the prisons of the Provinces of Finnmark and Tromsø, and there is also a provision regarding parishes of the Norwegian state church located within the Administrative Area which states that every person has the right to personal services in a Saami language in these parishes. The regulations apply to all three Saami languages spoken in the Administrative Area (North, Lule and South Saami), although it is inhabited mainly by speakers of North Saami. According to the Act, Norwegian and the Saami languages enjoy equal status in the Administrative Area, and everyone has the right to use a Saami language in dealing with defined local and regional public authorities. Laws and regulations which are of particular significance for the Saami people and various notices and announcements must be translated into Saami. The Act also contains a provision on the rightto usea Saami language in courts of law. All persons have the right to be served in their own language by the authorities, and the right to receive education about and in their own language. However, public officials are not required to know a Saami language, although an ever-increasing number of the public officials in Karasjok, Kautokeino, Nesseby and Tana do speak a Saami language. The state of Norway is responsible for the costs incurred by the implementation of the Act. The distribution of allocations is carried out by the Saami Parliament. Annual funding for the promotion of bilingualism in the six municipalities of the Administrative Area amounts to over 16.5 million Norwegian kronor. In addition, the Saami Parliament receives grants for providing support and advice about the use of the Saami languages. The Saami Language Council (<I>Sámi giellarađđi</I>) was established when the provisions of the Saami Act regarding the Saami languages were ratified in early 1992, and the so-called Saami Language Act came into force. In 1977, the Saami Language Council published a report regarding the oral and written language skills of public officials in which it was found that these varied between 9% and 52% depending on the area. The report also indicated that the authorities used Norwegian more than Saami. </P> <P align= justify > In Finland, a working committee established by the Saami Delegation (1984-1987) submitted a report in 1987. On the basis of this report, an Act (516/1991) on the use of the Saami language in official transactions was passed at the beginning of 1992. The provisions of the Act applied in the area of the Saami Homeland. It did not require the authorities to possess Saami language skills, so its provisions were implemented through translation and interpreting. The annual state support for the municipalities amounted to nearly 33,400. The Saami Parliament also has a Language Office in which three full-time North Saami translators do translation work for the authorities and for private organizations, firms, etc. The Act was criticized for failing in practice to promote the natural use of the Saami language, the use of which was limited mainly to newspaper and other announcements. The various authorities have not been able to provide services in Saami either because they lacked the necessary language skills or because they are unwilling to do so. In 1997, the Saami Parliament set up a Language Act Working Committee to explore how the implementation of the fundamental and human rights of the Saami people with regard to language might be better secured in the Saami Language Act. The committee continued its work into 2000, and in December 2001 it submitted its proposal for a bill to the Saami Parliament. The proposal was passed on to the Minister of Justice in February 2002. It is intended that the new Language Act should come into force together with a new Finnish Language Act at the beginning of 2004. The purpose of the bill is to rectify the deficiencies of content in the present law on the use of the Saami language in official transactions and to modify the legislation to conform with changes in the provisions of the Constitution (2000) and with new international agreements (for example, the Council of Europe s Convention for the Protection of National Minorities ). According to §17 (3) of the Constitution of Finland, the Saami as an indigenous people, the Romanies (Gypsies) and other groups have the right to maintain and develop their own languages and cultures, and according to §121 (4) of the Constitution the Saami have self-determination with regard to their language and culture within the Saami Homeland. This self-determination is mainly administered by the Saami Parliament. The principle aim of the bill is to ensure that the Saami people s right to use their own language in official transactions is implemented in practice. In consequence,the authorities must take the initiative in using the Saami language and see to it that Saami-speakers are served in their own language. There are separate provisions for the language skills required of public officials. Matters regarding education are not provided for in the Language Act but in a number of separate laws (the Comprehensive Education Act 628/1998, the Senior Secondary School Act 629/1998, the Adult Senior Secondary School Act 439/1994, the Statute on the Matriculation Examination 1192/1998, the Act on Vocational Education 630/1998). The bill proposes that the follow-up and reporting on the implementation of the law should be enhanced, which could be done for example by the Language Office of the Saami Parliament, which in addition to following, supervising and reporting on compliance with the law would also report more generally on the language rights of the Saami. It would make its report every four years at the end of the term of the Saami Parliament. The Language Act is to apply to all the Saami languages spoken in Finland: Inari, Skolt and North Saami. The funding of the Act is to change so that the allocations made to the municipalities will correspond with the true expenses involved in implementing it. In December, the working committee for the reform of the Language Act established by the Saami Parliament issued an extensive report on the number of public officials with language skills in Saami. Altogether 817 public employees responded; of them about 75% said they did not understand Saami, while 12% claimed that they could use Saami in their work. For about 10% of this latter group, Saami was their mother tongue. Even fewer could write in Saami. On the basis of this report, the language bill notes that there are so few Saami-speaking public employees that it is not possible to conduct transactions in Saami without great practical difficulties and delays, and that worst of all that it was frequently impossible to do one's business in a Saami language at all without an interpreter. A new Saami Language Act became into force in the beginning of 2004. It mostly followed the proposition made by the Saami Parliament. The state support for the municipalities and the Saami Parliament , which is still under preparation, is the most important aspect in regard to the better realization of Saami linguistics human rights. </P> <P align= justify > The provisions of the constitution with regard to the Saami languages in Sweden are limited to a regulation (Lag 1976:192) contained in Section (1) 2 of the Constitution of Sweden, according to which the opportunities for ethnic, linguistic and religious minorities to maintain and develop their own cultures and mutual interaction must be furthered. Up to the year 2000, there had been less legislation regarding the Saami language in Sweden than in Norway and Finland. The situation began to change with the proposals made by the Committee on Minority Language in its 1997 report (SOU 1997:192). The ratification of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages of the Council of Europe had also become an issue at that time. At the beginning of April 2000, a law on the right to use a Saami language in dealing with the authorities and in courts of law (<I>Lag om rätt att använda samiska hos förvaltningsmyhdigheter och domstolar 1999:1175</I>) was passed. As in the Norwegian languagelaw, a separate Saami Administrative Area was established comprising the municipalities of Arjeplog, Gällivare, Jokkmokk and Kiruna. The law is applied to the Saami languages spoken in the region: South Saami, Lule Saami and North Saami. According to the law, an individual has the right to use the Saami language in personal transactions with the authorities in both speech and writing, and the authorities are obliged to give their answers in Saami. Every Saami person has the right to use a Saami language in courts of law. The law also includes stipulations regarding the use of Saami languages in nursery schools and care of the aged. It does not contain any requirement regarding the language skills of the authorities, so in practice it is implemented by means of interpretation and translation. The Swedish state grants six million Swedish <I>kronor</I> to the municipalities and county councils and one million <I>kronor</I> to the courts of law to cover the costs of implementing the laws on the use of Saami, Finnish and <I>meän kieli</I> (the northwestern dialect of Finnish spoken on either side of the border between Finland and Sweden). </P>er between Finland and Sweden). </P> +
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