Last year, the church’s forest investigation presented about ten proposals on how the church’s forestry should, among other things, take greater account of the indigenous people. It then proposes that the principle of free and informed consent, FPIC, should be introduced in consultations with the Sami villages.
But when Luleå diocese has now left their answer during the referral round, they want to delete the investigation’s wording around FPIC.
“Credibility problems”
Among other things, they get Ulrika Karlsson, church politician for heaven and earth who have long driven the issue, to react strongly negatively.
– If in a reconciliation process you say that you should work with the indigenous rights and then reject a proposal that indigenous law should be in the church’s regulations, then you actually have credibility problems, she says.
Want it to apply to all Sami
However, according to Luleå diocese’s Bishop Åsa Nyström, the decision is about something else.
– We want the indigenous law to be enrolled in the church order, but not with the wording proposed by the investigation, she says.
She continues:
– We see that the proposed wording only makes the Sami villages representatives of the indigenous people Sami and this is something that risks reinforcing this category division that the Swedish Church has raised in its apology to the Sami.