CRC/C/97/D/172/2022 affected, but with the size of the three communities that make up the Käsivarsi Reindeer Herders’ Cooperative. 2.14 According to the authors, the exploration works would cause unpredictable adverse consequences for the continuity of their culture, limiting their ability to benefit from the transmission, from older generations, of Sami culture and the associated work and livelihood. As the continued practice of Sami children’s culture and way of life is strongly dependent on traditional reindeer herding, if traditional reindeer herding is lost due to additional threats, which the State party has allowed to arise through mineral exploration works, further aggravating the situation and destroying the sustainability of reindeer herding, their identity, adequate standard of living, language and culture more broadly will suffer and be lost, as all these elements are grounded in living with reindeer. 2.15 The authors submit that, even though other members of their siida have submitted communications to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights that concern the same mineral exploration project, they decided to submit their own communication to the Committee on the Rights of the Child in order to address their individual circumstances as Indigenous girls who have the right to benefit from the unhindered intergenerational transmission of the Sami culture and way of life. The authors emphasize that the right to the transmission, from generation to generation, of an Indigenous identity, way of life and traditional economic activity constitutes a core dimension of the rights of Indigenous children. Therefore, according to the authors, the communications submitted to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights relate not only to different victims but also to a different set of human rights violations. 2.16 The authors submit that all domestic remedies have been exhausted because, in their opposition to the granting of the exploration permit and subsequent appeals before the domestic courts, they explicitly invoked the same substantive rights that are invoked in the present communication: their rights to take part in the cultural life of their community, to property, not to be discriminated against, to work or livelihood of their choice and, more generally, to provide their free, prior and informed consent in relation to activities harmful for the continuity of their culture. The authors submit that, before the Supreme Administrative Court, they testified that the threats to reindeer herding affect the perception among young Sami of the possibility of their continued involvement in reindeer herding and that reindeer herding has significant importance for how traditional knowledge is maintained and protected for future generations. Complaint 3.1 The authors claim that the mineral exploration works would violate their right to enjoy their own culture in community with other Sami (art. 30), their right to their identity as Sami (art. 8) and their right to an adequate standard of living as members of a community based on reindeer herding (art. 27), all interpreted in the light of the right to health (art. 24) and all read alone and in conjunction with the right to non-discrimination (art. 2 (1)). 3.2 The authors submit that the granting of the permit despite their consistent opposition and in the absence of an impact assessment infringes their right to preserve their identity as Sami (art. 8) because, where the preconditions for continued membership and participation in the way of life of a Sami reindeer herding community become unsustainable due to external interferences in the use by the Sami of their lands and resources, their Indigenous identity is denied.8 3.3 With regard to the violation of article 27 of the Convention, the authors submit that the granting of the permit despite their consistent opposition and in the absence of an impact assessment deprives them of an adequate standard of living as members of a community based on reindeer herding.9 8 9 The authors refer to paragraphs 18 and 44 of the Committee’s general comment No. 11 (2009) on Indigenous children and their rights under the Convention. They refer to paragraph 34 of general comment No. 11 (2009). 5