In this event, you will
- Learn about diversity, inclusion and indigenous rights
- Hear what aspects to take into account when assessing your organisation’s impact on the rights of Sami people
When speaking about the rights of indigenous peoples, the focus is often on how indigenous peoples are treated in the USA or how destroying rainforests in Brazil affects peoples living in the area. However, the businesses cannot ignore these peoples as indigenous people actually live, work and study with us.
As part of the European Diversity Month, Diversity Charters of Finland and Sweden are holding an event together for the first time. As the theme of the European Diversity Month is ethnicity at work, we focus on the only indigenous people of the European Union – the Sami people.
What do you know about the Sami? How does your business affect the Sami people?
Violating rights of the Sami is not a relevant concern only to mining companies or companies operating in Finnish or Swedish Lapland. Join us and update your knowledge!
Speakers
Helena Dalli is EU Commissioner for Equality. Her responsibilities include – among other equality related themes – strengthening Europe’s commitment to inclusion and equality in all of its senses, irrespective of sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation.
Tuomas Aslak Juuso or Gáijjot Ánte Issáha Duommá is the President of the Sámi Parliament in Finland. Before Juuso was elected as a President in 2020, he was elected the 2nd Vice President of the Sámi Parliament for the parliamentary term 2016-2019 and had actively worked for the rights of indigenous peoples for more than 15 years. For instance, Juuso has chaired the United Nations (UN) Global Indigenous Youth Caucus, been a member of the Global Indigenous Coordination Working group of the UN world Conference on Indigenous People, and been promoting the rights of indigenous peoples in many other ways, such as by negotiating at the UN level. The rights of indigenous peoples are important to Juuso, and according to him the UN Declaration on Indigenous Peoples is the reason why he ran for the Sámi Parliament in the first place. Juuso comes from Raittijärvi, the Village of Kaijukka, where reindeer husbandry is based on the old siida system.
Katarina Parfa Koskinen is Sami and researcher at Umeå University. When Katarina worked with Romer, her personal journey towards a researcher’s identity and how it relates to historical injustices that she has been told or experienced herself began. Even today there are reports in the media about Sami students who were not allowed to speak Sami during school hours, which is a violation of fundamental human rights. What is presented as positive for most people, i.e. research and education, can thus be perceived in the exact opposite depending on the perspective we see. By her research she wants to minimize the risk of unknowingly repeating historical injustices. Katarina is also active in the reindeer and tourism industry and we will hear how these industries are linked to your business.
Per-Olof Nutti, President of the Sami Parliament in Sweden
Alice Bah Kuhnke, the Swedish Green Party, Member of the European Parliament & former Sami minister
Moderator: Lovisa Fhager Havdelin, consultant, speaker and former secretary general Teskedsorden.
For whom
FIBS’ members, especially the ones interested in diversity, inclusion and ethnicity at work
Participation fees
The event is included in FIBS membership fee.
Further information
FIBS’ team, 040 865 1285, fibs@fibsry.fi
Organized in co-operation with
