Inside, the Finnish Minister for Foreign Affairs was busy painting a rosy picture of Finland's human rights policy.

Here in Lapland, we were working in an area that is the subject of a pending case with the UN Human Rights Committee - this hasn't, however, swayed the state-owned forestry company Metsähallitus from their logging plans, which would be in violation of international human rights agreements signed by the Finnish government.

It wouldn't be the first time - in 1995, Metsäallitus went ahead and logged an area in Angeli - while it was being dealt with by the UN Human Rights Committee!

At the UN Human Rights Commission's 61st session in Geneva, Minister Erkki Tuomioja stated that Finland's objectives was to prevent discrimination of minorities and indigenous peoples - yet the UN Human Rights Committee recently criticise Tumomioja for discriminating against the rights of the Sámi.

Our campaigner, Matti has responded to the speech: "Mr Tuomioja's hypocrisy is unbelievable. In his correspondence with us he has avoided his responsibility by delegating this human rights conflict to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. Yet it is the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, which is charged with fulfilling international agreements and reporting about Finland's human rights commitments at these UN meetings. Finland can't demand human rights to be respected elsewhere and neglect international law at home."

So what's the bottom line here? The logging of old-growth forests in the Sámi homeland is clearly unsustainable. If these forest landscapes disappear - that's it. We lose both the biodiversity and ethnic diversity, as well as the Sámi culture and traditional reindeer herding.

We can't let this happen.

Notes - yes, here it is in Black and White:

UN Human Rights Committee (November 2004):
..."regrets that it has not received a clear answer concerning the rights of the Sámi as an indigenous people (Constitution, sect. 17, subsect. 3), in the light of article 1 of the Covenant. It reiterates its concern over the failure to settle the question of Sámi rights to land ownership and the various public and private uses of land that affect the Sámi 's traditional means of subsistence - in particular reindeer breeding - thus endangering their traditional culture and way of life, and hence their identity."
... "The State party should, in conjunction with the Sámi people, swiftly take decisive action to arrive at an appropriate solution to the land dispute with due regard for the need to preserve the Sámi identity in accordance with article 27 of the Covenant. Meanwhile it is requested to refrain from any action that might adversely prejudice settlement of the issue of Sámi land rights. "