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As a consequence of the growing global need for minerals, extractive industries are continuously expanding. In the North, together with several environmental problems such as climate change, this poses a real threat to the traditional livelihoods of Sami people. The article examines how the rights of Sami indigenous people are protected against adverse impacts of mining activities. The relevant national legislation is analyzed in all the four countries where Sami are present. It is specifically examined how the main mining act in each country protects the right of Sami people to their traditional livelihoods. Finally, the article sheds light on the actual effectness of the legal regulation. This is done by analyzing the results of interviews conducted with relevant actors and stakeholders in the mining industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Even though self-determination of peoples has an esteemed place in international law, it seems fairly clear that peoples divided by international borders have difficulty in exercising their right to self-determination. It is thus interesting to examine whether general international law places constraints on transnational peoples' right to self-determination. Of particular interest in this article is to examine whether indigenous peoples divided by international borders have a right to self-determination, given the recent adoption of the 2007 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The article will also take up cases where transnational indigenous peoples of Sami and Inuit have tried to exercise their joint self-determination and whether we can, in fact, argue that indigenous peoples divided by international borders have a right to exercise their united self-determination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This book review essay will employ David Lea's interesting ideas over how indigenous and traditional societies should relate themselves to economic globalisation for self-reflection regarding how we international legal scholars in general approach indigenous issues. Moreover, because Lea also outlines his views on how indigenous and traditional societies should improve their situation, it gives a good basis to think of an alternative model from the international legal viewpoint on how indigenous governance could be improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the rationale underlying the Draft Nordic Saami Convention submitted by an expert committee to the Nordic governments and the Saami Parliaments in October 2005. The Draft Convention represents an innovative possibility to grow beyond the state-centred paradigm in international relations in a realistic way and thus deserves to be studied even before negotiations on the Convention proper commence. The particular focus of the article is on how the Draft tries to ensure a position that is as equitable as possible for the Saami in relation to the Nordic states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines how the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has dealt with the concept of peoples and peoples' rights in its jurisprudence. Most prominent has been the Court's role with respect to the right of self-determination and it is this issue that forms the core of the article. A second important question dealt with is the role of indigenous peoples in ICJ case practice, as the struggle by those peoples to gain collective rights is a recent development in international law. Drawing on this analysis, the discussion proceeds to consider the role that the ICJ has played in the development of the rights of peoples in general and what its future role might be in this sphere of international law. The article also examines the way in which the Court has allowed peoples to participate in its proceedings and whether and how its treatment of peoples' rights has strengthened the general foundations of international law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]