CRC/C/97/D/172/2022 reindeer watch to scare away predators. In addition, as girls, they bear a special responsibility in accordance with Sami traditions for the production of traditional Sami handicrafts (duodji). From an early age, the authors have been taught by older women in their family and are now able to create everything themselves, from traditional reindeer fur boots (nuvttohat) to the traditional outfit worn in ceremonial contexts (gákti). As reindeer provide a range of materials for traditional handcrafts, including fur, skin, veins and bones, if traditional reindeer herding is lost, the Sami culture will suffer as well. In the same way, their mother tongue, Northern Sami, is a language deeply rooted in nature: the entire vocabulary of reindeer herding consists of Northern Sami words,4 and children do not learn that vocabulary other than by being part of the reindeer herding community. There is no future for their mother tongue if there is no place for traditional reindeer herding because of activities negatively affecting their ancestral territories. 2.4 On 28 March 2014, the Geological Survey of Finland, an agency under the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, applied for a mineral exploration permit for a project called “Lätäs 1”, requesting permission for exploration works for gold, copper and iron, entailing the drilling of 100- to 300-metre-deep holes into the bedrock in about 20 different locations within an area of 390 hectares on the authors’ traditional reindeer herding territory. 2.5 As the Mining Act (No. 621/2011) requires the State party to identify the impacts of mining or exploratory activities on the right of the Sami to maintain their culture, the Safety and Chemicals Agency, the State party’s mining authority, sought written comments in October and November 2014 from the Sami Parliament and the Käsivarsi Reindeer Herders’ Cooperative and invited them to participate in meetings on 17 May 2015 and 17 May 2016. Kova-Labba siida was not specifically invited to provide comments or to participate in the meetings. 2.6 The Käsivarsi Reindeer Herders’ Cooperative, acting on behalf of its members, including the authors, opposed the approval of the permit due to the harm that the mineral exploration works would cause to them and due to the lack of effort that the State party had made to obtain their free, prior and informed consent. The Sami Parliament stated on three occasions – 13 November and 15 December 2014 and 22 June 2016 – that, given the lack of an assessment of the consequences for Sami reindeer herding, 5 the basic preconditions for free, prior and informed consent did not exist. Indeed, only once an assessment has been completed should the State party’s mining authority request the opinion of the Sami Parliament. 2.7 On 7 July 2016, the Safety and Chemicals Agency granted a permit to the Geological Survey of Finland, renewable for up to 15 years, finding that the application met the requirements of the Mining Act. 2.8 The planned exploration is to be carried out in the heart of the authors’ winter herding lands, every winter. According to the authors, winter is the worst possible time for the exploration work as regards traditional reindeer herding. Indeed, the winter months are the most critical for the survival of the reindeer, which have to dig through thick snow in order to reach ground lichen or, where pristine forests can be found, to feed on the lichen that grows on the branches of old trees. According to the authors, winter and “spring-winter” are therefore challenging seasons for reindeer and reindeer herding because the snow cover is at its thickest; to get the reindeer to graze during winter is very sensitive work, and the grazing can be easily disturbed. 6 Moreover, the project entails bringing into the pristine natural 4 5 6 For instance, there are over 200 words just for describing snow; every part of nature and every landscape is known only in the Northern Sami language. The State party’s mining authority must, in accordance with decision KHO:2014:111 of the Supreme Administrative Court, assess the impact of the project on the rights of the Sami as an Indigenous People. The authors submit that, while traditional Sami reindeer herding is dependent on normal – variable but predictable – winter and snow conditions (which determine the reindeer’s ability to graze), the body mass of the reindeer decreases during winters with difficult snow conditions, resulting in reduced calf production in the spring and miscarriages. Good grazing conditions are formed when the snow is dry and granular in early winter, the ground is properly frozen before snowfall and the snow 3