The Supreme Court of Norway, the Supreme Court, recognizes Saarivuoma's Sami village's right to conduct reindeer husbandry in the disputed area in Norway.
The Norwegian reindeer grazing legislation can therefore not stop them.
According to the ruling, the Norwegian state cannot demand compensation from the Sami village.
The judgment also clarified that the Norwegian state and Saarivuoma Sami village must bear their own legal costs.
- The verdict shows that we have strong rights.
We have won against the Norwegian state in the Supreme Court twice.
Of course, we also have rights on the Norwegian side, says Per-Anders Nutti, chairman of Saarivuoma Sami village to Sameradion & SVT Sapmi.
Sued the Norwegian state in 2018
Saarivuoma Sami village sued the Norwegian state in 2018, and claimed the exclusive right to reindeer grazing on the Norwegian side on land where today, according to Norwegian authorities, you are only entitled to grazing during the summer.
In the alternative, the Sami village demanded the exclusive right to summer work in the area in question north and northwest of Álddesjávri / Altevann in Troms county.
The basis for the conflict is the lack of a reindeer husbandry convention between Sweden and Norway.
Those negotiations have been stagnant for several years because no agreement has been reached.
This has led to Sweden living according to the rules from the border treaties in the Lapp codicill from 1751 and Norway has in turn enacted a law based on the expired reindeer husbandry convention from 1971.
Lost in the district court
The Sami village lost both in the district court and in the court of appeal and then appealed to the Supreme Court. The court hearings took place in the first week of May, but due to the corona pandemic, the Sami village's representatives were not able to be physically present in Oslo, the hearings were followed via a link.