The democratic state of Sweden oppresses Europe's only indigenous people, the Sámi. By not ratifying ILO 169, Sweden denies the Sámi their indigenous rights.

According to ILO 169 - the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention of 1989, as well as according to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the Sámi's right of ownership and possession of land and water must be recognized.

Sweden has been a strong driving force in the issue of indigenous peoples' rights in the UN, and is pushing hard in global projects for indigenous peoples' rights through the aid organization SIDA. In the UN Security Council (latest 2017-18), Sweden has pushed issues of international law, human rights, gender equality and humanitarian perspectives.

Sweden has not ratified ILO 169 - and thus continues to export its hypocrisy, while the State within its own borders, continues to oppress the Sámi people, despite sharp criticism from the UN Human Rights Council, the UN Committee on Racial Discrimination, the UN Human Rights Committee, the UN Committee on Economic and Social Affairs and Cultural Rights, Civil Right Defenders and Amnesty Sápmi.

Sweden's Scandinavian neighbours Norway and Denmark ratified the convention in 1990 and 1996. The ruling party in Sweden, the Social Democrats, via the current Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson, has not commented on the issue. Her predecessor, Stefan Löfven, expressed in 2014 a will to begin ratification. At the time of his resignation seven years later, ratification work had not yet begun. The ratification work is buried in State investigations, on investigations, on investigations.

The Sámi were first mentioned in writing 98 CE in Roman scripts but have lived in Sápmi for thousands of years before that. Since the 14th century, the power and the government keep committing colonial abuses against Sápmi and its indigenous people. Most recently (2022) through political approval of mining in Gallók within the Sámi village Jåhkågasska tjielldes, on ancient pastures for reindeer husbandry.

Please help Europe's only indigenous people to obtain rights to their land since ancient times, by signing this petition calling on the Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson and her government to use their democratic power and intervene by initiating ratification work of ILO 169.

Image by: Nonviolence Students ÅAU P. who started a petition to the Parliament of Finland to ratify ILO 169.