A/HRC/33/42/Add.3 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination,3 and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.4 10. States’ expropriation of land traditionally used by the Sami people, be it for the purpose of natural resource extraction or other development projects, constitutes a limitation of their property rights. Relevant international standards, such as the the International Labour Organization (ILO) Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169), establish that the State has a duty not only to consult with the affected Sami community but to obtain its free, prior and informed consent. The duty to consult and the requirement for consent apply not only to measures that will affect an already recognized right or legal entitlement, but to any measures that may affect lands that are traditionally owned or possessed under customary tenure, whether officially titled or not, of the Sami people. Consultation and consent are not a single event, but should readily occur at all stages of a project, from exploration to production to project closure. In addition to consultation and consent, additional safeguards need to be in place in order to ensure that the rights of the Sami people are adequately protected in the face of natural resource investments. Such additional safeguards include prior impact assessments that focus adequate attention on the full range of rights that may be affected, mitigation measures to avoid or minimize the impact on those rights, fair and equitable benefit-sharing and compensation for impacts. IV. Cross-border Sami initiatives A. Nordic Sami convention 11. An important cross-border initiative of the Sami people has been the effort to develop a Nordic Sami convention in conjunction with the Governments of Norway, Sweden and Finland with the aim of safeguarding and developing the Sami poeple’s languages, culture, livelihoods and way of life with the least possible interference from the imposition of borders by national authorities. In 2005, the expert group appointed to draft the convention unanimously agreed on a draft text, which was presented to the Sami parliaments and Nordic Governments the same year. The draft convention includes provisions relating to self-determination, non-discrimination, Sami governance, including the Sami parliaments and their relationship to the State, languages and culture, education, and rights to lands, water and livelihoods. The draft convention also contains several provisions related to its implementation, including the establishment of a complaints mechanism. 12. Following long and complicated negotiations between Governments and Sami Parliaments on the modalities for continued negotiations, an agreement on the setting for negotiations on the convention was reached in November 2010, and negotiations towards adoption of the convention began in 2011 with the aim of completion by March 2016. 13. A recurring subject of concern during the Special Rapporteur’s visit was the delay from the Governments in finalizing the convention. While she appreciates that there are a number of difficult questions on which to reach agreement, she hopes that the States concerned will take advantage of the opportunity to put in place positive measures designed 3 4 See Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, general recommendation No. 23 (1997) on the rights of indigenous peoples, para. 5; CCPR/C/SWE/CO/6, para. 20; CCPR/C/FIN/CO/6, para. 16; and CCPR/C/SWE/CO/7, para. 39. See the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, arts. 25-32. 5