Historical Synopsis of the Sami

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Historical Synopsis of the Sami/United Nations Relationship
by Christian Jakob Burmeister Hicks

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	Notes
	[1] The recent discovery of non-Saami skeletons and artifacts in Norway that date prior to the end of this ice age counters this argument. (Mayell, 2001)
	[2] Sapmi is the Saami name for their homeland or Northern Fenno-Scandia previously called Lapland.
	[3] Norweganization is the term given to the Norwegian policy of controlling the cultural stimuli that Saami school children are exposed to. Norwegian school system removed all aspects of Saami culture and language from these children’s lives. They were immersed in majority Norwegian society. Though now highly controversial and no longer practiced, at the time it was seen as the best way to create equality for Norwegians and Saami alike. The goal was to make all citizens of Norway Norwegian.
	[4] The one exception would be the Canadian Inuit and First Nations who have outstanding rights themselves.
	[5]In this text transnational refers to across-border cooperation by sub-governmental groups beyond national borders (i.e. Inuit Council and Saami Nordic Council). It can also be cooperation between sub-governmental groups and governments of other states (i.e. between Saami Nordic Council and Russian Federation). It should be noted that the Saami do not think of themselves as one group but a people of made up of groups. This is changing with the organization and cooperation of the different Saami groups throughout the circumpolar world.
	[6] The Nordic Saami Council changed its name and focus from a purely Nordic organization to the Saami Council when Russian Saami were allowed to participate in 1996.
	[7] Not to mention the poorly experienced and funded Russian Saami of the Kola Peninsula.
	[8] All figures given in US dollars.

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