View source for Saami Council

{{Artikkeli
|sivun nimi=Saami Council
|kieli=englanti
|id=0583
|artikkeliteksti=<P align="justify"> Saami Council (Sámiráđđi, Samerådet, Saamelaisneuvosto). Called the Nordic Saami Council from 1956 to 1992, this is an autonomous cooperative umbrella organization for the Saami organizations in Finland, Norway, Russia and Sweden. The task of the Council is to enhance the economic, social and cultural position of the Saami and to promote the affairs of the world s indigenous peoples. The council prepares and organizes the {{Artikkelilinkki|0580|Saami Conferences}}. </P>

<P align="justify"> The Saami Council was officially established at the Second Saami Conference in Karasjok on 18th August 1956. The {{Artikkelilinkki|0511|Society for the Promotion of Saami Culture}} (Saami Čuvgehussearvi) and the {{Artikkelilinkki|0593|Same Ätnam}} and Sámi Searvi organizations cooperated to organize the first Saami Conference in 1953, in which a committee was appointed to draft a proposal for the establishment of a council to deal with Nordic Saami affairs. The Nordic Council had been established several years previously, and it provided the committee with a suitable model for the Nordic Saami Council. From the outset, the strategy of the Nordic Saami Council was to influence national governments through the Nordic Council in order to promote Saami affairs in the Nordic countries. The Nordic Council did make a recommendation to the governments of the Nordic countries to initiate discussions to create a common Saami policy, but the results were disappointing. In the 1960s, a joint Nordic advisory body was set up to deal with questions concerning reindeer husbandry. This body still continues to function as a kind of cooperative organ between the national governments and the Saami Council. The so-called Friends of the Saami, i.e. the members of founding organizations, had by the mid-1960s succeeded in arousing the interest of the state decision-makers in Saami affairs and the Nordic Saami Council, but support from the Saami regions was weak because the activities of the Saamis own organizations were still not coordinated. In Norway and Sweden, local organizations unified themselves into national organizations at the end of the 1960s, but in Finland no corresponding organization was formed, although the {{Artikkelilinkki|0523|Saami Delegation}} was created, and through it Finnish Saami were able to participate in joint Nordic activities. In the 1970s, the Nordic Saami Council helped to lead the Saami into a new age of political awakening. In the following decade, the Russian Saami were invited to participate in the Nordic Saami Conference as observers. In the 1992 Saami Conference in Helsinki, the Organization of the Kuola Saami (AKS) ({{Artikkelilinkki|0542|Kuola Saami: political situation}}) was accepted as an official member of the Nordic Saami Council. Subsequently, another Kuola Saami organization, the Social Organization of Saamis of the Region of Murmansk (OOSMO) was made a member. In the Helsinki Conference, the name of the Nordic Saami Council was shortened to the Saami Council, which thereby became an organization uniting the Saami of all countries. In the 1986 Conference, the Council implemented the main objective approved by the [[Saami Conference]]: We Saami are one people, and the frontiers of states shall not break the unity of our people. In the Helsinki Conference, the rules governing the number of members of the Saami Council were changed. The members of the Council are appointed from the member organizations of the different countries so that Norway has five members, Finland and Sweden four and Russia two members, all with their own deputy members. In the late 1990s, a new Finnish central organization was made a member at the end of the 1990s although it represented only a few local Finnish associations. This central organization thus did not succeed in uniting a wide spectrum of Finnish Saamis under one national organization. The position of the Saami Council and the Saami Conference as the supreme decision-making organization in Saami affairs changed after the {{Artikkelilinkki|0521|Saami Parliaments}} were established in Finland, Norway and Sweden. The Saami Council has defined itself as an NGO (non-governmental organization), the activities of which are focused on questions relating to the world s indigenous peoples. The Saami Council was given an advisory position, i.e. the status of an NGO, within the UN in 1989, which means that it may participate in the meetings and processes of the UN relating to indigenous peoples. Like the Inuit Circumpolar Conference and RAIPO, the organization of the indigenous peoples of Russia, the Council is a permanent member of the Arctic Council. It is represented in the UN {{Artikkelilinkki|0545|Working Group on Indigenous Populations}}, in which it participated in drafting the {{Artikkelilinkki|0532|Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples}}. In addition, the Saami Council coordinates a number of international development projects, for example in Africa. The Saami Council has not, however, been accepted as a member of the Nordic Council, nor have the Saami Parliaments been accepted as members of this joint forum of the Nordic peoples.</P>
<P align="justify"> The activities of the Saami Council are funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers. Its secretariat is located in Utsjoki (since 1979). A Cultural Committee appointed by the Council allocates annual grants for culture and the arts amounting to 600,000 euros to Saami organizations, artists and other individuals in the field. It also awards an annual prize to a well-known artist or association. For example, the 1999 prize was awarded to the Kuola Saami Association. The Cultural Committee also awards a prize for literature and organizes the distribution and dissemination of literature in Saami languages to various institutions.</P>

Bibliography: 

* Aikio, S. 1984. «Sámi Čuvgehussearvvi 50 jagi» in BALGGIS/polku: Sámi Čuvgehussearvi 1932-1982 Lapin Sivistysseura. Sámi Čuvgehussearvvi doaimmahusat 44 Lapin Sivistysseuran julkaisuja 44. K.J. Gummerus Osakeyhtiön kirjapainossa Jyväskylässä. 
* Aikio, S. & Aikio-Puoskari, U. & Helander, J. 1994. The Sami Culture in Finland. Publications of Lapin Sivistysseura 49, Helsinki. 
* Gaski, H. & Kappfjell, L. 2002. Samisk kultur I Norden - en perspektiverende rapport. Nordisk kultur Institut, Kobenhavn. 
* Nickul, K. 1952. Finnish State Gommission (1949-1951) Report on Lapp Affairs. Fennia 76 N:O 3, Helsinki. Abridged Edition by Karl Nickul. 
* Sillanpää, L. 1994. Political And Administrative Responses To Sami Self-determination. A Comparatlve Study Of Public Administration In Fennoscandia On The Issue Of Sami Land As An Aboriginal Right. Societas Scientiarum Fennica, Commentationes Scientiarum Socialium 48 1994, (University of Helsinki, Finland). 
* Svensson, T. G. 1976. Ethnicity and Mobilazation in Sami Politics. Stockholm Studies in Social Anthropology No. 4.
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|kirjoittaja=Irja Seurujärvi-Kari
|luokat=Politics and organizations
}}