When speaking about the rights of indigenous peoples, the focus is often on how indigenous peoples are treated in the USA or how destroying rainforests in Brazil affects peoples living in the area. However, the businesses cannot ignore these peoples as indigenous people actually live, work and study with us.
As part of the European Diversity Month, Diversity Charters of Finland and Sweden are holding an event together for the first time. As the theme of the European Diversity Month is ethnicity at work, we focus on the only indigenous people of the European Union – the Sami people.
What do you know about the Sami? How does your business affect the Sami people? If you think that the rights of the Sami is a relevant concern only to mining companies or companies operating in Finnish or Swedish Lapland, join us to update your knowledge!
AGENDA
CET Opening Helena Dalli, Minister for European Affairs and Equality
Helena is a Maltese labour politician serving as European Commissioner for Equality since 1 December 2019.
When Katarina worked with Romer, her personal journey towards a researcher’s identity and how it relates to historical injustices that she has been told or experienced herself began. Even today there are reports in the media about Sami students who were not allowed to speak Sami during school hours, which is a violation of fundamental human rights. What is presented as positive for most people, i.e. research and education, can thus be perceived in the exact opposite depending on the perspective we see. By her research she wants to minimize the risk of unknowingly repeating historical injustices.
Katarina is also active in the reindeer and tourism industry and we will hear how these industries are linked to your business.
9:20 CET Panel discussion with politicians
– Tuomas Aslak Juuso, President Samediggi/Sami Parliament in Finland
Tuomas Aslak Juuso or Gáijjot Ánte Issáha Duommá is the President of the Sámi Parliament in Finland. Before he was elected as a President in 2020, Juuso was elected the 2nd Vice President of the Sámi Parliament for the parliamentary term 2016-2019 and had actively worked for the rights of indigenous peoples for more than 15 years. For instance, Juuso has chaired the United Nations (UN) Global Indigenous Youth Caucus, been a member of the Global Indigenous Coordination Working group of the UN world Conference on Indigenous People, and been promoting the rights of indigenous peoples in many other ways, such as by negotiating at the UN level.
The rights of indigenous peoples are important to Juuso, and according to him the UN Declaration on Indigenous Peoples is the reason why he ran for the Sámi Parliament in the first place. Juuso comes from Raittijärvi, the Village of Kaijukka, where reindeer husbandry is based on the old siida system.
– Per-Olof Nutti, President of the Sami Parliament in Sweden
– Alice Bah Kuhnke the Swedish Green Party, Member of the European Parliament & former Sami minister
Modertor: Lovisa Fhager Havdelin consultant, speaker and former secretary general Teskedsorden.
The event is in english.