Human Rights in Cross-Cultural Perspectives: A Quest for Consensus

14. Right to Self-Determination: A Basic Human Right Concerning Cultural Survival. The Case of the Sami and the Scandinavian State

Tom G. Svensson 14. Right to Self-Determination: A Basic Human Right Concerning Cultural Survival. The Case of the Sami and the Scandinavian State Introduction The question of cultural survivalhas become a growing concern for encapsulated minorities in ethnically plural situations. In the relationship between relatively powerless indigenous minorities and the nation-state, cultural survival is not only a matter of culture per se. It can also be regarded as a human rights issue based on political rights and land rights, the two predominant elements contained in what is referred to as "Aboriginal rights." Political rights refer to self-determination, whereas land rights can be either territorial rights to land and water, or rights and ability to develop traditional natural resources, such as sovereignty over a land base sufficient to maintain a particular way of life. How then can a particular culture survive? It can be sustained only by the common action of many people whose main concern is to maintain and develop their basic and culturallydefined characteristics.These people share fundamental interests and values, as well as a distinct identity, which make them readily recognizable and different vis-a-vis the outside world. Cultural survival, therefore, is primarily a collective objective and should be viewed in contrast to individual physicalsurvival. If one assumes this connection between culture and human rights to be a significant legal property according to international law and uses it as a fruitful point of departure in attempts at clarification of human rights in general terms, the somewhat unnecessary debate between liberal and nonliberal positions and the controversy as to whether human rights are individual or collective might be settled.1 564 Tom G. Svcnsson In my view, it is a human right to be part of a culture, but to have full meaning this right must be shared with other people. It is foremost a question of social rights: rights to a distinct way of life, rights to a system of beliefs and values, the meaning of which emerges when they are shared. These rights are collectively exercised, although their strength and importance are individually experienced as well. No doubt this is true for indigenous minorities viewed internationally in a global Fourth World perspective; however, human rights cover a far broader field, and in many instances individual human rights must predominate. For that reason, it may be an impossible task to try to specify some kinds of general human rights, that is, rights that are applicable to all mankind. If we pursue such a goal, we may be left with very little, whereas if we allow the meaning of the concept of human rights to expand situationally without losing its fundamental support, it will continue to evolve as a powerful asset that can be used strategically by actors in various arenas, national or international , where confrontation between different cultures is called for. The primary concern must be that general human rights arc equal in weight and significance, for individuals as well as collectivities, without being identical in content. With such a simple clarification we may come to terms with the difficulties generated by extreme cultural relativism. Let me sum up this introductory statement by quoting a Native person belonging to the Plains Crce whom I met after the Human Rights conference in Saskatoon, Canada: To us Indians human rights is a matter of daily survival; it is the right to food, to firewood and to fresh water, but above all it is the right to our customs. If we arc denied these rights we are denied human rights, the way we see it. Obviously, he is emphasizing the collectivencss of human dignity, so strongly accentuated by human rights advocates. In this chapter I intend to explore the cthnopolitical goal of cultural survival, linking the discussion to ideas of human rights wherever appropriate . The case material in support of the argument derives from the Sami in Northern Fennoscandia, a indigenous minority in a European context with long Western democratic traditions. The Concept of Human Rights in Cultural Terms According to Richard Falk, a leading contemporary expert on broadening the perspectivesof human rights, human rights discourse must include The Case of the Sami 365 the dimension of culture to counteract, or balance, the unidimcnsional acknowledgment of sameness promoted legally by international law through its human rights instruments.2 Bringing in, and making explicit use of, the perspective of culture makes the realization of human rights...