A/HRC/33/42/Add.3 sufficiently take into account impacts on the Sami community. Such a mechanism could serve to ensure more effective implementation of the Sami safeguards in the Mining Act, and would also reduce costs, not only for affected communities that are forced to appeal permits that are granted, but also for the companies involved, which would avoid temporary shutdowns and delays. 68. A recent development that also relates to natural resource investments in the Sami homeland area is the new legislation on the Finnish Forest and Park Enterprise 43 to regulate the management of land and water areas that the State claims as its own. With the reform of the Finnish Forest and Park Enterprise Act, passed in March 2016, part of the Sami people’s traditional territory will be transferred to a State-run enterprise which, among other things, has the responsibility for industrial-scale logging carried out in the Sami homeland. That issue was subject to a communication between special procedure mandate holders and the Government of Finland (see A/HRC/32/53, p. 29). 69. The Special Rapporteur takes note of the Government’s position that the Act establishes municipal advisory boards in the Sami homeland region with a mandate to reconcile different views on the use and management of State-owned lands,44 and that the boards may, to some extent, strengthen the rights of the Sami people. However, in her view the Act does not make sufficiently clear whether the Sami people will have any genuine possibilities to influence decisions that may have an impact on their rights, nor does the Act provide any information on the tasks, membership, term of office and appointment of the boards. 70. From the perspective of the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the Act also appears problematic. The Special Rapporteur reminds the Government that its commitment to the Guiding Principles entails taking additional steps to protect against human rights abuses by business enterprises that are owned or controlled by the State.45 For the issue at hand, such additional steps should, at a minimum, entail recognizing Sami rights over their lands, resources and traditional livelihoods and legal provisions to that effect. While the recognition in the Act that efforts will be coordinated in a manner that ensures that the Sami people are able to enjoy their culture is important, its implications are not fully spelled out in the operative sections of the Act, leaving the rights of the Sami people vulnerable to political discretion. In order to ensure that the human rights of the Sami people are not eroded by the implementation of the Finnish Forest and Park Enterprise Act, the Sami Parliament and the Skolt Sami Village Council, as well as affected Sami communities, need to have a strongther voice in the relevant processes. At a minimum, the membership of the municipal boards provided for in the Act should have equal representation of the Sami people and the boards should have a clearly defined mandate to assess any potential impacts of activities on the Sami people’s rights to maintain and develop their own language and culture prior to approving any permits. 4. Language and education 71. Education in the Sami languages is guaranteed by law within the Sami homeland, where municipalities are entitled to receive increased subsidies for teaching in the Sami language.46 There is still no legislation or policy that guarantees education in the Sami language outside the core Sami area, where the majority of Sami students live, a concern that was raised by the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (see 43 44 45 46 18 Finnish Forest and Park Enterprise Act (No. 234/2016) (Laki Metsähallituksesta). Finnish Forest and Park Enterprise Act, chap. 10, sect. 39. Guiding Principle 4. Financing of Education and Culture Act (No. 1705/2009).