NSRs fungerende leder, Gunn-Britt Retter, deltar under Samisk Parlamentarisk Råds møte med FNs spesialrapportør for menneskerettigheter og fundamentale friheter for urfolk. Sesjonen finner sted i Rovaniemi, og NSR som organisasjon er invitert til å legge fram sitt syn på hvordan Norge lever opp til menneskerettighetskonvensjonen, og da spesifikt under ett av temaene "Retten til land, vann og naturressurser" eller "Språk, barn og ungdom med fokus på opplæring".

NSR har valgt å ta for seg ett av punktene man fokuserte på i sitt høringssvar til Norges 19. og 20. rapport til FNs rasediskrimineringskomite i juli 2009 (brevet kan leses helt nederst på denne siden), nemlig om samiske barns rettigheter i møte med offentlige myndigheter og barnevernstjenester.

Her er NSRs innlegg, kun på engelsk:

Honorable Special rapporteur, co-chairpersons, representatives of saami organisations, government representatives.

As a member of Saami Parliamentarian Council I had the opportunity to address the issue of the saami right to fish in coastal waters yesterday. Today I am delighted to get the opportunity to address the Spesial Rapporteaur again now as the chair of the Norwegian Saami Association. The Norwegian Saami Association is a national level cultural and political saami organization, established in 1968 and we have today approximately 900 members. We are represented in the Saami Parliament and we are one of the member organizations of the Saami Council.

I will be talking to theme of Children and youth. Today the Norwegian Saami Association would like to address our concern regarding the rights of saami children. It is our opinion that saami children do not fully enjoy the human rights they are entitled to and they do not enjoy these rights at the equal level with a child belonging to the majority society in Norway, in particular not when it comes to the child care service.

In cases where a saami child being abused, or a child that is neglected in some way, or in any other case is in need for assistance has a great need to get culturally appropriate child care service. A child need to be met by people who are familiar with its language and culture. A child needs to be met by a service that understands the value system and norms of the saami culture. Families going through crises or any such challenges are already in a vulnerable situation, and need to be ensured and comfortable with that the service provided would be to the best for the child and not be of a kind that breaks the connection to its culture and set of values.

If the saami child care does not live up to the standards the saami child is entitled to by the human rights, we will fail in helping a child needing help. We have experienced cases in Sápmi indicating that the child care service provided for a saami child today does not fully protect or provide the child’s right to its culture and language.

The Convention of the Rights of the Child states:

Article 8 1. States Parties undertake to respect the right of the child to preserve his or her identity, including nationality, name and family relations as recognized by law without unlawful interference.

Article 30 In those States in which ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities or persons of indigenous origin exist, a child belonging to such a minority or who is indigenous shall not be denied the right, in community with other members of his or her group, to enjoy his or her own culture, to profess and practise his or her own religion, or to use his or her own language. 

It is the national authorities responsibility to protect the child's rights. And a child can not be denied the right to develop its language and culture. It becomes a challenge when the practice of the obligation is left to county or municipal level, and budgetary limitations decide if the child’s right to appropriate child care is completed (fulfilled) or not. The responsible authorities have to ensure cultural approriate child care service and foster homes. Today, no one holds a particular responsibility to ensure that a saami child’s and families rights are completed. In cases where children are involved, time is an essential factor. Both in getting help and also when it comes to time spent away from its culture and language before a satisfactory solution is in place.

The child’s best should always be up front when it comes to child care and assistance through crises. Even though the child care is a service we would wish was not much needed, we can not afford not to be prepared to assist and help when needed to the best for the child and its family.

Norwegian Saami Association sees that the establishment of an ombudsmann for saami children with the mandate to oversee the child care service for saami children provided in Norway as a whole, to identify the most pressing needs to improve the situation for the child care service in particular. An ombudsmann should oversee all issues concerning the right of the saami child, also issues concerning education and teaching materials. An ombudsmann should have thorough knowledge to the saami culture, to the best interest for the saami child.

Due to the nature of the theme addressed here, my brief presentation is very general. We are ready to submit more detailed documentation to the special rapporteur, if so needed.

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I NSRs valgprogram for helse- og sosialpolitikk framheves også disse punktene, les her.

NSRs høringssvar til Norges 19. og 20. rapport til FNs rasediskrimineringskomite.