Debate: “Unjust laws create social conflicts”
Laws must be perceived as reasonably fair if people are to follow and respect them – otherwise social conflicts are created. Social development had already made the Reindeer Husbandry Act untimely and deeply unjust even before the Girjasdom.
According to what I understood, some judges considered that the “girls’ case” was not really a matter for the judiciary but for politics.
In a democracy, laws are made by the people through their politicians in the Riksdag, but it seems to have passed many people by.
Instead of removing special rights from the Reindeer Husbandry Act for people, who are no longer dependent on them, lawyers now want to add another special right for Sami village members – the exclusive right to moose hunting on land above the cultivation boundary and on land between the cultivation boundary and the Lapland boundary, when reindeer husbandry is allowed there (October 1–April 30).
Three and three
In 1996, the reindeer husbandry delegation in Västerbotten decided to review the moose hunt.
The reindeer husbandry delegation consists of seven members with the governor as chairman. Three members must be reindeer husbandry practitioners and three members must represent the rest of the population.
At the time of the decision, a person who was cohabiting and had children with a member of the Sami village sat as a member for the rest of the population.
“The delegation decides according to the present proposal with the amendment that three members from the reindeer husbandry delegation (of which two are Sami) shall be part of the working group. The decision is made after voting with votes of 4 to 3.”
The governor voted with the rest of the population. The two members from the rest of the population reserved themselves against the decision. What Is An Unjust Law?
A stupid question
The reindeer husbandry side thus won thanks to the partner. Isn’t this cool?
The reindeer husbandry delegation has great power in land, hunting, and fishing matters. In Västerbotten, the development has led to all state land, but also all private land above the cultivation limit, being double-registered for the Sami villages.
The Sami villages’ moose allocation is therefore also calculated based on the private land area. The Sami village members themselves decide where to kill their moose, but must consult with landowners to avoid accidents.
Beneficial system
A very favorable system for the Sami villages with “guest hunters” renamed to “assistant hunters” for hunters outside the Sami villages was drawn up by the working group, where the reindeer herders had a majority.
The local companies were also given the right to have guest hunters, but with completely different criteria. Their guest hunters must be registered annually and the number is limited to one guest hunter for every ten local hunters.
As far as I know, there is no upper limit to the number or where/if they are registered as assistant hunters of the Sami villages.
Was intensively hunted
A landowner surprised a Sami village member with assisting hunters on his private land and went to court, but no action was taken.
The local companies (which include many Sami without membership in a Sami village) previously had 16 moose hunting days on state land, but in 2019 the county board extended the hunting time by another six days.
This was opposed by the Sámi village, which has the entire hunting season, and at a consultation meeting between the Sámi village and the local companies, the Sámi village announced that if any team took advantage of the new days, the Sámi village would intensively hunt the team’s area before then. That also happened, but then the private land was also chased away.
To this can be added that according to section 32 of the reindeer husbandry act, since 1997 only the Sámi village can appeal. The concessions, therefore, apply to land, hunting, and fishing issues, as well as concessions for buildings. What Is An Unjust Law?
Strong forces
If you have any human knowledge at all, you realize that a more effective way to create hatred and conflicts between groups of people can hardly be imagined than today’s moose hunting system in Västerbotten.
Strong efforts seem to be underway to expand the system to other counties.
Ronny Black
Sami without membership in a Sami village