Saami Resources

Media Release by Saami Council and Minerals Policy Institute

Wednesday 21 Nov 2012

United Nations Human Rights Complaints for Hannans

Today, in Perth at the AGM of the Australian based exploration company Hannans Reward Ltd, investors were notified by the Saami Council and affected Saami communities that complaints to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination had been prepared and would be officially lodged with the UN if the company goes ahead with its open-pit mining plans in Northern Sweden, home of the Indigenous Saami people. Through their subsidiary Kiruna Iron, Hannans is in the process of developing several open-pit mines in crucial Saami reindeer grazing pastures, which would violate fundamental human rights of Saami reindeer herders of the Girjas and Laevas Saami communities.

“At last year’s AGM, we warned investors and financial institutions involved with these mining projects of the human rights risks. We have given the company ample opportunity to withdraw their plans, yet they continue to deceive investors by pouring money into projects that are doomed to fail because of the enourmous environmental and social risks associated with them” – Says Mattias Åhrén, Chief Lawyer at Saami Council.

Saami communities have previously been successful in halting developments in Saami areas by lodging complaints with the UN, as was demonstrated in 2005 when the UN intervened and ordered logging to cease in Northern Finland because of the damage it was causing to reindeer grazing pastures. Stora Enso – the company involved – suffered significant reputational damage and lost both customers and investors as a result. The company had all the required national permits, but this was not enough, as the operations were deemed to breach the human rights of the local Saami people.

“We are absolutely opposed to exploration and mining on our traditional lands and we will do everything we can to stop this short-term plundering of our mountains” says Ingemar Blind, Chairman of the affected Girjas Saami Community.

“We are working with other stakeholders in our region who are of the same opinion and have grave concerns over the environmental damage mining will entail for our sensitive arctic environment” says Niila Inga, reindeer herding member of the affected Laevas Saami community.

Media Contacts:

Mattias Åhrén, Chief Lawyer, Saami Council +47 47 37 91 61

Charles Roche, Mineral Policy Institute +61 (0)450 901 714

Mats Berg, Media Contact, Girjas Saami Community +46 70 397 6977

Niila Inga, Media Contact, Laevas Saami Community +46 70 546 91 19

See the website www.saamiresources.org for more information.

Statement from Saami Communities at Hannans Reward Annual General Meeting, Perth, Australia, 21stNovember 2012

Minerals Policy Institute is authorised, on behalf of the Saami Council and the local Saami reindeer herding communities of Girjas and Laevas, to represent them at Hannans Reward AGM in Perth Australia on November 21st, 2012, and read out the following statement:

Hannans Reward, through their subsidiary Kiruna Iron AB, are planning mines on the traditional lands of the Indigenous Saami communities of Laevas and Girjas in the north of Sweden. The integrity and ecologically sustainable use of these lands is critical to the migration of reindeer and the practice of reindeer husbandry. Mining in this area would leave 20,000 reindeer without grazing lands, and Saami families and communities without access to their customary lands. Reindeer herding is the central Saami livelihood and the key component of the communities’ and their members’ cultural and spiritual identity. It has been practiced by Saami people in the Arctic since time immemorial, but reindeer herding is currently under enormous pressure from extractive industrial activities in Saami areas.

Given the devastating impacts Hannans Reward’s proposed mining activities would have on Girjas and Laevas respectively, the communities will never consent to the projects. Rather, they will do everything possible to protect their lands and livelihoods. In line with this commitment, and their obligations to future generations, the communities have – with the assistance of the Saami Council – prepared complaints to the United Nations Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which will be officially lodged with the UN if the company goes ahead with its open-pit mining plans in Northern Sweden.

Copies of the complaints to the United Nations have been sent to Kiruna Iron, Hannans Rewards, the Swedish government and major investors in Hannans Rewards.

Questions:

Given the success of previous Saami complaints to the UN – for example, in 2005, the UN ordered logging operations in Saami territories in Finland to cease because they breached the fundamental human rights of the affected Saami communities –how does Hannans Reward view the risks the planned UN complaints poses to its business?

The jurisprudence emanating out of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, as outlined in Girjas’ and Laevas’ complaint to the Committee, clearly establishes that the right to property requires that indigenous communities consent to mining activities that considerably negatively impact on their traditional land. Against this background, and since Girjas and Laevas have declared that they will never consent to Kiruna Iron’s mining activities, why is Hannans Reward persisting with this project and risking shareholders funds, when the project has been rejected by the Girjas’ and Laevas’ communities?

Press Release by Fiettar Reindeer Herding District and the Saami Council (2012-10-19)

In letters sent today, the Saami Council calls on two major investment banks to withdraw their investments in the Norwegian based mining company Nussir ASA. The Saami Council warns the Banks that investing in Nussir ASA may render them complicit in human rights violations. The background of the letters is Nussir ASA’s refusal to withdraw from the Nussir, Gumpenjunni and Ásavággi area, despite Fiettar Reindeer Herding District’s persistent and rigorous objections to the company’s mining project. The mine would have detrimental impact on Fiettar’s possibility to continuously pursue traditional Sami reindeer husbandry, particularly if considering cumulative impacts of already existing and planned infringements in the area.
“Nussir ASA’s proposed mine would destroy calving, summer and fall grazing lands of fundamental importance to Fiettar”, says Ragnhild Marit Sara, member of Fiettar. “In addition, the mine cuts of traditional migration routes, blocking the reindeer from passing the area, resulting in loss of vast pasture areas on the north side of Nussir, Gumpenjunni and Ásavággi. The migration route is also used by Fála, both in spring and autumn. We have no alternative lands that can substitute these pasture areas and the loss of the migration route. There is simply no room for a mine, with associated infrastructure. Nussir ASA’s planned mine would destroy too much of Fiettar reindeer herding community’s calving, summer and autumn lands for the community to be able to survive”, continues Sara.

“The investment banks investing in Nussir ASA’s project violates a number of normative systems”, says Mattias Åhrén, Head of the Saami Council’s Human Rights Unit. First and foremost, through traditional use, Fiettar has established a property right to the area. Nussir ASA blatantly violates this right when seeking to enter the territory without Fiettar’s consent. The mining project violating the human right to property follows e.g. explicitly from the jurisprudence emanating out of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. In addition, the relevant Banks have committed not to invest in projects such as the one pursued by Nussir ASA through multiple international corporate responsibility guidelines such as the OECD Guidelines and the UN Global Compact. Further, the Banks’ own Environmental Policy Statements commit the Banks to respect indigenous peoples’ rights to lands traditionally occupied and used”, continuous Åhrén.

The Saami Council, which cooperates with Aborassa Reindeer Herding District in a similar project, has run similar successful campaigns in the past, targeting companies not respecting Sami rights, by undertaking shareholder and investor dialogues, media campaigns and filing complaints with UN treaty bodies. “We expect the targeted investment banks to withdraw from Nussir ASA’s mining project”, Sara and Åhrén ends.

For further information, please contact Raghhild Marit Sara, mobile phone +47 917 917 28 and Mattias Åhrén, mobile phone +47 47 37 91 61

June 24th, 2012

The Saami communities of Girjas and Laevas have now begun a co-operation with Greenpeace in order to stop Australian based Kiruna Iron’s (Scandinavian Resources ASX:SCR) mining plans in the Kiruna region of Northern Sweden.

Recently, the National Swedish Saami Association also announced at their annual meeting  in Jokkmokk that they would be raising Kiruna Iron’s proposed plans to the attention of the UN. The Association indicated they may also raise a complaint with the UN over British based Beowulf Mining’s plans in the Jokkmokk region. 

Kiruna Iron’s CEO, Magnus Arnqvist, responded by welcoming the review of Kiruna Iron’s operations by Greenpeace and the UN, although the Saami communities expressed scepticism over the company’s willingness to be open.

21 February, 2012

Last night on Swedish Television, local municipal politician Kristina Zachrisson expressed concern over Kiruna Iron’s planned mining activities in the Kiruna area. While Kiruna municipality and many of its politicians are generally pro-mining, Zachrisson said that reindeer herding communities and the tourist industry also had to be carefully considered.

Zachrisson now joins other unlikely skeptics of Kiruna Iron’s plans – including several local mining unions – who have recently expressed concern over the potential impacts of Kiruna Iron’s proposed mines on sensitive mountain environments.

Click here for coverage in Swedish

20 February, 2012

A local Swedish mining union in northern Sweden has now officially made clear their opposition to Australian backed Kiruna Iron’s plan to mine in sensitive mountain areas around the Kalix river in northern Sweden.

”For a proposed mine with such a short life-time, this concerns far too significant impacts in an important recreational area ”, says Jan Thelin, chairman of the local mining union – ‘Gruvtolvan’.  [See reporting in Swedish]

The Mining Union’s recent critique of Kiruna Iron’s plans appears to reflect broader community sentiment. On Friday 16th of February over 200 concerned locals met at a community meeting to discuss Kiruna Iron’s mining plans, with representatives from the tourism industry, fishing groups, environmental groups, local home-owners, and local Saami communities. [See reporting in Swedish]

6 February 2012

On Saturday, at the Jokkmokk Winter Market in Northern Sweden, over two hundred locals gathered for a protest march over British Bewoulf’s planned mining activities in Jokkmokk and other mining activities throughout Northern Sweden. Click here and here for video clips of the demonstrations. Follow this link for coverage in English by Swedish Radio.