This is how Fosen could happen

Campaigners from Nature and Youth and Norwegian Samirs Riksforbund Nuorat
have been protesting against the Ministry of Oil and Energy in Oslo since Feb. 23,
2023. The reason for the action is that the wind turbines at Fosen, which the
Supreme Court has said are illegal, have not been demolished. The picture shows
Sami artist Ella Marie Hætta Isaksen being removed by Norwegian police the night
before Monday Feb. 27. Photo: Rasmus Madsen Berg, Natur og ungdom

In October 2021, Norway’s Supreme Court ruled that two wind plants at Fosen are violating Sami rights. However, the wind farm is still operating. | On 11 October 2021, Norway’s Supreme Court unanimously found this to be in violation of Article 27 of the Convention on Civil and Political Rights, and considered the wind power plants to «deny the right to cultural exercise». The permit for the wind power plant was thus declared invalid by the court. The Supreme Court did not determine what should be done with the invalid power plant. The government says it is working to make the invalid permit compliant with SP Art 27, which is why it has not yet been dismantled or moved. The continuous violation of human rights has now lasted for 500 days with no sign of resolution. ● The business model of the wind power industry has taken a shortcut through laws and regulations to obtain permits to build and produce wind power plants. The number and size of offenses this entails varies from area to area. The Sami community should have been contacted by the developer in advance to obtain their consent, but the process was ignored, along with the information of the neighbors and other people with rights in the planning area. The municipalities should have checked in advance which laws and regulations could come into conflict with permission in this planning area, but this was not properly done due to an unclear division of com-petence. ● Norwegian energy authorities should have made sure that all rights, laws and regulations were properly managed either by themselves or by the municipality. Instead, neither the municipality nor the energy authorities have carried out the coordination obligation of the legislation, and several breaches of the law have occurred. ● As a result, the wind power plants at Fosen were built illegally, they are too big with too much noise and with too much negative impact on the grazing areas, on the reindeer and the opportunity to run reindeer herding. Reindeer herding and wind power plants are incompatible, and cannot exist together.

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■ 500 days of human rights violations are enough! | NSR Nuorat, the youth organisation of the Norwegian Sami National Association (NSR), and Nature and Youth are now marking 500 days of human rights violations. In protest against the Norwegian authorities' delay of the Fosen verdict, they have been staying in the premises of the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy since 23 February. Eleven Supreme Court judges support the unanimous Fosen ruling that Article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights was violated when Fosen Vind destroyed the last winter grazing areas of the Sør-Fosen Sijte and Nord-Fosen Siida.