Is Denmark as horrifying as people say?

[barbaraann]

89. Here's an excerpt from one article:

The Sami are recognized by the Swedish government as an indigenous population. However, Sweden has refused to ratify the ILO Convention concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries. The UN has criticized Sweden several times for the mistreatment of the Sami population, in issues of language, culture, and land rights. One of the significant incongruities between the national legislation protecting indigenous populations and the ILO convention is that the convention recognizes land rights to a larger extent. The Sami land rights that are currently recognized in Sweden tend to be tied to reindeer husbandry. Reindeer herding is only one of the traditional Sami industries and only a minority of Sami has reindeer. The land rights of Sami who have traditionally relied on hunting and fishing is poorly recognized. In fact, Sweden has one of the most intensive forest industries in the world, and historically the forest and timber industry has been very important for both the economy and the development of the Swedish nation-state. The forest industry has infringed on traditional Sami land and today the state-owned forest company Sveaskog is in conflict with the Sami population over logging in Sapmi. The Sami Parliament of Sweden has pointed out that the logging does not only negatively impact the Sami population but the living conditions of mankind in general. Last year WWP released a report about the Swedish forest industry that warned that the biological diversity and ecosystem were in danger. The report stated that 90 percent of the “red-listed” species present were negatively affected by the forest industry and that if there is no change they are expected to die out.

The hate directed toward the Sami population in Sweden increased after the so-called Girjas verdict. Girjas, a Sami village, took the Swedish state to court in 2009 over a dispute over land use. The government previously administered who could hunt and fish in a particular area, but the Girjas was seeking the right to be the sole administrator in this. In 2013 the court in Gällivare sided with the village. However, the state appealed the verdict and the case went to the Hovrätten, the second level of court in Sweden. That court stated that the Girjas had “more right” to administer the hunting and fishing rights than the government, but that the Sami village could not do so without the approval of the state. This verdict was also appealed and the case therefore went to the highest level of court in Sweden, Högsta domstolen. There it was decided in 2020 that the village has the sole right to administer hunting and fishing rights based on “prescription from time.” One of the reasons this case was so important is that it forces us to ask who the land belongs to. The highest court of Sweden recognized the rights of the local Sami people but did not settle the question indefinitely. However, the verdict was celebrated as a victory for the Sami population as it recognizes their right to not only be on the land but to decide by who and how it can be used.

https://theowp.org/reports/increased-hate-against-swedens-indigenous-people/