Den ovärdeliga marken - En analys av skyddet av renskötande samers rätt till mark i förhållande med ILO 169

Sammanfattning: The Sami people’s rights have attracted media attention as of late and this raises the question of their protection in international law. Several international organs have urged Sweden to ratify the convention ILO 169 on indigenous people’s rights, but that is yet to happen. It partly depends on the Sami land rights which doesn’t meet the convention’s requirements. The thesis therefore aims to examine how the Sami land rights are protected in Swedish legislation and see how that protection relates to article 14 in ILO 169, which deals with land rights. Article 14 in ILO 169 states that indigenous people’s ownership and possession of the land they traditionally occupy shall be recognized and that their continuous use of land they don’t exclusively traditionally occupy shall be safeguarded. There is some unclarity if ownership should always be recognized, of if safeguarding the indigenous people’s continuous possession and use of the land can be enough. The Sami land rights have a strong connection to reindeer heading and is founded on immemorial prescription and a civil right to use others land. The reindeer heading area is divided into land that is used year-round, where the protection against limitations from others is the strongest, and land used in the winter. The big difference when comparing the Sami land rights against article 14 in ILO 169 is that the Sami doesn’t have a statutory right of ownership of the land they traditionally occupy. The Swedish legislation offers a lower protection of land rights than article 14 in ILO 169. Several related legal issues remain for future inquiries, amongst others are the rights related to the recovery of natural recourses.