A/HRC/33/42/Add.3 54. The status of the Sami as an indigenous people is recognized in the 1999 Constitution,28 which indicates that the Sami have a right to cultural autonomy and linguistic and cultural self-governance within their native region,29 covering the municipalities of Enontekiö, Inari and Utsjoki, as well as the area of the reindeer owners’ association of Lapland in Sodankylä. The Sami Parliament Act establishes the Finnish Sami Parliament with the mandate to protect the Sami language and culture and matters relating to their status as an indigenous people. The Act also affirms that State authorities should negotiate with the Sami Parliament “all far-reaching and important measures that may directly or indirectly affect the Sami’s status as an indigenous people”, including matters relating to the management, use, leasing and assignment of State lands, conservation areas and wilderness areas.30 55. Finland is also home to a distinct Sami group, the Skolt Sami. A separate law, the Skolt Act,31 includes provisions on their rights in the Skolt native area, a part of the Sami native area in the municipality of Inari. The Act recognizes the Skolt Sami Village Council as the representative body of the Skolt Sami and requires that it be consulted in matters that could affect the rights of the Skolt Sami. 2. Self-determination 56. Despite the strong statutory affirmations of the Sami Parliament Act and the Skolt Act, the Finnish Sami Parliament and the Skolt Sami Village Council have limited decision-making power, in particular with respect to land and resource rights. Representatives of the Finnish Sami Parliament reiterated the concern they had shared with the previous Special Rapporteur that most of their proposals and comments to the State went unanswered by the Government. 57. A highly vexed question is that of the electoral register of the Sami Parliament in Finland. The Sami Parliament Act establishes several criteria that a person has to meet to qualify as Sami for the purpose of voting. 32 According to reports received, the criteria were decided on without the consent of the Sami Parliament and they have recently become the subject of contentious interpretations by the Supreme Administrative Court. In the course of the two recent elections, the Sami Parliament rejected a group of applicants to the electoral register on the basis that they did not meet the objective criteria established by the Sami Parliament Act. The applications were reportedly part of one of many campaigns organized by non-Sami inhabitants of the northern parts of Finland who attempted to register as Sami voters in order to influence the composition of the Sami Parliament. While the Special Rapporteur is not in a position to judge the accuracy of such allegations, her attention has been drawn to the fact that several of those seeking to enrol on the electoral register are known to be outspokenly critical of the Sami and their rights as an indigenous people. She also notes that, unlike in Norway and Sweden, the Finnish Sami Parliament Act provides for a right of appeal to an external judicial institution, the Supreme Administrative Court,33 which has no Sami representation, and there are no requirements for the Court to have specific knowledge of Sami culture. 58. The Special Rapporteur notes that in 2013, the previous Government presented a legislative proposal to amend the Sami Parliament Act that entailed extending the obligation for State authorities to cooperate in negotiations with the Sami Parliament on 28 29 30 31 32 33 See the Constitution of Finland, sect. 17. Ibid., sect. 121, para. 4. Sami Parliament Act (No. 974/1995). Skolt Act (No. 253/1995). See the Sami Parliament Act, chap. 1, sect. 3. Decision of the Supreme Administrative Court 2015:148. 15