As the name suggests, the Northern Institute for Environmental and Minority Law (NIEM) specializes in environmental and minority law. Particularly, it has a special focus on researching the law relating to (Arctic) indigenous peoples, as well as environmental law as it is applied in the Arctic regions. The Institute also provides its expertise to the Advisory Board on International Human Rights Affairs, an independent consultative organization on human rights issues, appointed by the Government of Finland.
Established in 1985, the Northern Institute for Environmental and Minority Law is led by Associate Professor Dr Kamrul Hossain and has a staff of some 10 researchers. The Institute is responsible for Arctic Law and Governance specialization within the Master Programme of International and Comparative Law (MIC Law) at the University of Lapland, and it leads the Arctic Law Thematic Network of the University of the Arctic.
Projects and activities >
Latest publications by the group members >
The Northern Institute for Environmental and Minority Law, along with Polar Law Institute based at the University of Akureyri, jointly hosts the publication of the Yearbook of Polar Law (Brill Academic Publishers). In addition, it publishes its own research publication series Juridica Lapponica. The Institute is also involved in several different research projects and events both as a coordinating institution and as a participant.
‘Solutions to common human security issues must be contextual at the local level, and address the unique concerns of diverse identities within communities,’ state researchers in the final report of the HuSArctic project. The main objective of the four-year project in 2015–2018 is to address human challenges of the Arctic population and to find tools to improve human security within Barents region. The project is funded by the Academy of Finland and hosted by the Northern Institute for Environmental and Minority Law, which is part of the Arctic Centre at the University of Lapland.
This was the second workshop in which participants discussed the progress of their research and presented drafts of chapters’ contribution.