UN report provides Norway with recommendations to strengthen the protection of the Sámi in land encroachment cases
From the EMRIP country engagement in March 2024. Photo: The Saami Council / Piera Heaika Muotka
On March 19, 2025, the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP) released a comprehensive report on how Norway complies with the rights of the Sámi people in matters concerning land encroachment in Sámi areas.
Head of the Saami Council’s Human Rights Unit., Eirik Larsen. Photo: Private
In the report, the Expert Mechanism presents a wide range of recommendations on how Norway can protect the Sámi people’s territories, culture, and traditional livelihoods when faced with plans for land encroachment such as energy projects, mineral extraction, infrastructure measures, and more. The report is based on the Expert Mechanism’s country engagement to Norway in March last year, following a request from the Saami Council. During the visit, which took place in cooperation with the Sámi Parliament in Norway, the experts met, among others, with rights holders, businesses, Sámi organizations, the Norwegian National Human Rights Institution, and several ministries.
– The UN expert body on Indigenous peoples’ rights identifies several shortcomings in Norwegian legislation and proposes a number of measures to bring Norwegian law into line with international law in cases involving land-use interventions in Sámi areas. The recommendations are considerable in both number and scope, and the content of the report shows that the experts have thoroughly familiarized themselves with the conditions for the Sámi in Norway, says Eirik Larsen, Head of the Saami Council’s Human Rights Unit.
In the report, the Expert Mechanism recommends, among other things, that Norway should:
Abolish the advance possession arrangement, which allows developers to begin construction before all legal processes have been completed.
Implement the Sámi people’s right to free, prior, and informed consent in the Sámi Act, the Minerals Act, energy legislation, and the Planning and Building Act.
Conduct an independent investigation of the Fosen case.
Grant Sámi rights holders the same veto over wind power projects that municipalities currently have.
Require free, prior, and informed consent during environmental impact assessments and in the choice of assessors.
Establish an independent center to ensure respect for the Sámi right to free, prior, and informed consent.
Provide training for public employees on Indigenous peoples’ rights.
Ensure that Sámi organizations, including Sea Sámi organizations, have the capacity to safeguard their rights.
Establish a body to monitor compliance with court decisions.
Strengthen the Sámi right to self-determination.
Adopt an action plan to implement the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Several of the recommendations also align with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s proposed measures and support its conclusions that there is an implementation gap in Norway.
– It is highly significant that the Expert Mechanism calls on the state to incorporate the right to free, prior, and informed consent into a number of laws, and that it also proposes abolishing the current advance possession arrangement. If we are to succeed with the green transition, it is absolutely necessary to strengthen the legal framework and give rights holders sufficiently secure conditions to engage in dialogue with authorities and industry stakeholders. Under the current regulations, neither Sámi rights holders nor businesses have the tools they need, says Eirik Larsen.
The Expert Mechanism also makes clear that securing rights to land and natural resources is fundamental to the Sámi people’s self-determination and is a prerequisite for the Sámi to continue existing as a distinct people in the future.
– That the Expert Mechanism is so clear about the need for legislative changes raises our expectations for the state’s follow-up of the recommendations. It is also reassuring that the Expert Mechanism indicates it will continue to follow up on the matter. They also point out that recognition of land rights and fishing rights may be part of further follow-up. We also know that the report will be on the agenda at the Expert Mechanism’s annual session in Geneva in July, concludes Eirik Larsen.