Paper short abstract:

Mining companies in Sweden do not currently apply the principle of Free Prior Informed Consent. The research explores how mining representatives characterise indigenous rights as unnecessary in Sweden through the spatial and temporal distancing of indigenous peoples to 'other' geographies.

Paper long abstract:

There are growing societal expectations, as encompassed in international law and norms, that corporations must seek the consent of affected indigenous communities before undertaking resource extraction activities on indigenous territories. This research will discuss some preliminary research findings on the existing knowledge and attitudes within the Swedish mining industry and Swedish Government concerning the question of indigenous rights, and specifically that of the principle of Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC). It is informed by a decade of academic-activist engagement with Saami communities impacted by mining, and draws upon key informant interviews.

Mining companies operating in Sweden do not currently respect or implement the principle of FPIC. The research explores how mining and state representatives justify and reconcile this through various, and at times contradictory, discourses. On the one hand, informants articulate a complacent rationale that human rights protections are superfluous in Sweden. On the other hand, they simultaneously argue that a respect for FPIC would create uncertainty and thereby threaten the existence of the mining industry. This places indigenous Saami communities in a double bind. In the case of the former, they are not seen as eligible for indigenous rights protections. In the case of the latter, they are considered an impediment to progress and development.