224 Ove Heitmann Hansen and Mette Ravn Midtgard
livelihoods, such as reindeer husbandry, hunting and fishing, in preserving and
developing the Sámi culture. The Sámi Council’s view is:
Given all people’s equal right to maintain and develop their culture, Norway
must prevent the non-Sámi society from expanding into Sámi territory in a
manner that prevents, or diminishes, the Sámi people’s chances of maintaining
and developing its culture.
56
A panel led by Professor Carsten Smith gave their opinion in 2007 about the
property rights of the Sámi along the coastal area. The Norwegian Government has
said that they are willing to discuss the matter, but are not prepared to make a deci-
sion on the case. The Sámi parliament hopes that the Norwegian Government is
prepared to accept the resolution from the UN Human Rights Council, which
decided that indigenous people’s rights shall also include resources in and below the
sea. Sámi President, Aili Keskitalo, who belongs to the largest political party in the
Sámi parliament, the National Association of Norwegian Sámi (NSR), claims that
indigenous people have rights when the nation-state collects tax from resources off
the coast of the Sámi’s land. She says:
The international law gives the Sámi people, as an indigenous people, rights
to oil and gas resources in our areas. I am not claiming that we have sole
rights to the petroleum resources in the northern areas, but the Sámi people
do have such rights as an indigenous people.
57
President Aili Keskitalo’s point of departure is that: ‘Oil, gas, fish and miner-
als in the Sámi area are also Sámi resources. Norway is founded on two people,
and that people must act accordingly’.
58
The demands from the Sámi parliament
specify, first and foremost, that regulations must be issued to ensure that the Sámi
are always included and that adequate importance is attached to Sámi views.
Secondly, substantive rules must be laid down that recognize and strengthen Sámi
rights and access to resources. Thirdly, regulations must be adopted that guaran-
tee Sámi self- and co-determination with regard to resource management. All in
all, this ‘package’ must be adopted within the parameters of indisputable interna-
tional law. In practical politics, this means that the Sámi parliament should be in
dialogue with the government and governmental institutions operating in their
land. During the process of making the Integrated Management Plan, the Sámi
parliament was regarded only as a receiver of information and not as a body enti-
tled to comment. This changed during the process. President Aili Keskitalo
asserted their right to benefit from the petroleum resources in the Barents Sea,
and their principal starting point is that the Sámi have a right to the petroleum
resources present in Sámi areas, which also includes areas off the coastline. Vice
President of the Sámi parliament, Johan Mikkel Sara, supports this view. He says
that the Sámi parliament does not in principle oppose petroleum production and
development of the Barents Sea, but that certain demands must be fulfilled. Sara
claims that Sámi people should have joint decision-making rights in all parts of
the process, and that the Sámi have rights to the oil and gas, and he insists that an