Anti-Sami racism in Sweden

international | rights, freedoms and repression | news report Tuesday August 05, 2003 00:03 by Katarina Bangata

'In 1998 the Swedish Discrimination Ombudsman did a study that showed that 75 % of Sami people feel that the majority are more or less hostile to the Sami and almost 50 % felt that the hostility was growing. The most worrying fact is that racial tolerance is diminishing amongst youngsters'

The Swedish government and the Sami Parliament in Sweden are together trying to change the attitudes of Swedes towards the Sami in the northern part of Sweden with a project worth millions of kroner(SEK). The executive director of the Sami Parliament, Mr Lars Nila Lasko, tells Eurolang that a racism and discrimination problem has been known about for years, but that little is being done.

‘In 1998 the Swedish Discrimination Ombudsman did a study that showed that 75 % of Sami people feel that the majority are more or less hostile to the Sami and almost 50 % felt that the hostility was growing. The most worrying fact is that racial tolerance is diminishing amongst youngsters' says Mr Lasko.

Racism and discrimination against the Sami has been difficult to prove since the study also shows that the Sami do not trust the local authorities. It means that only a tiny proportion of the racial incidents and crimes are reported and documented.

Politicians also received short shrift in the study with 80 % of Sami representatives saying that they trust most politicians either ‘a little’ or ‘not at all’. Since 1998 the situation has not improved. According to Mr Lasko: ‘The attacks against the Sami who wear the national dress still happen although the study has been made public. The authorities and the politicians have ignored it until now.’

The Swedish government has decided to invest three million SEK (about 320 000 euro) over the next three years to set up a Sami Information Centre that educates and informs the majority population about Sami culture and history. The Information Centre will target the inner parts of Norrland especially as conflict over land and hunting issues between the Sami and the Swedish population are concentrated there.

‘The racism, as we call it, has historical reasons based on land issues, water rights and other economic issues, and therefore it is important to understand the history’ explains Mr. Lasko. He added that the Sami Information Centre must start from scratch because up until now state policy had failed to teach about Sami issues. It means that the Swedish majority know very little about the Sami.

Speaking about other initiatives on Sami issues, Agricultural Ministry department chief, Mr Göran Therborn, told Eurolang: ‘The reindeer management committee’s suggestion for a new law will be presented after the vacation. A hunting committee is studying the hunting rules right now, and there is a border committee looking into the hunting and fishing rights from the perspective of the UN ILO 169 convention about the land rights of indigenous people.’

There is a new interest in Sami issues in Sweden. Recently the Agricultural Ministry ran a course for 20 politicians from the Swedish Parliament. Mrs. Cecilia Wikström MP from the Swedish Liberal Party Folkpartiet is one of the Swedish politicians who are participating in the Sami course in the Agricultural Ministry. She said that: ‘I just attended the course on Sami issues and it was really interesting. Now I am preparing a visit to the Sami Parliament as soon as possible, since we really have to get a better understanding of these minority issues’.