Dr. Alexandra Xanthaki works as a Professor of Law at Brunel Law School, UK. She is one of the leading experts in indigenous peoples’ rights in international law. Her monograph ‘Indigenous Rights and United Nations Standards: Self-determination, Culture and Land’ (Cambridge University Press, 2007 and 2010) has been reviewed in several major academic journals and has become a major source of reference in academic literature. In the video, Leena Heinämäki, LLD, Senior Researcher at the Northern Institute for Environmental and Minority Law, Arctic Centre, University of Lapland interviews Xanthaki on indigenous peoples’ rights in international law. Xanthaki explains the major last achievements in international law as well as answers the questions relate to the ILO Convention No. 169 on the rights of indigenous and tribal peoples and the legal status and main principles of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Dr. Christina Allard acts as an associate professor at the Luleå University of Technology and at the Arctic University of Norway, Tromso. Allard is one of the leading experts in legal comparison on Nordic countries, especially in Sámi land use issues. She has published a monograph “Renskötselrätt I nordisk belysning” (2015) where she compares reindeer herding rights in Sweden, Norway and Finland. She is also one of the main editors of “Indigenous Rights in Scandinavia – Autonomous Sami Law” (Ashgate 2015). 

In this video, Leena Heinämäki, LLD, Senior Researcher at the Northern Institute for Environmental and Minority Law, Arctic Centre, University of Lapland interviews Christina Allard on Sámi Rights in three different Nordic Countries from a comparative point of view. Norway is the only one of the three Nordic countries that has ratified the ILO Convention No. 169 on the Rights of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples whereas Finland and Sweden have not. Can we learn from Norwegian example?

Dr. Nigel Banks works as a professor in the Faculty of Law of the University of Calgary. He has been teaching and publishing extensively on indigenous peoples’ rights. In this video, Leena Heinämäki, LLD, senior researcher at the Northern Institute for Environmental and Minority Law, Arctic Center, University of Lapland, interviews Nigel Banks on indigenous peoples’ rights, particularly in the Canadian legal system. Banks is explaining the general legal context as well as gives examples of indigenous self-government and co-management models in Canada. 

Dr. Stefan Kirchner works as a Senior Researcher at the Northern Institute for Environmental and Minority Law, Arctic Centre, University of Lapland. He also holds a docentship at the faculty of Law, University of Lapland.  Kirchner has done extensive research on indigenous peoples’ rights, both in international context as well as related to Latin American countries. In this video, Leena Heinämäki, LLD, Senior Researcher at the Northern Institute for Environmental and Minority Law, Arctic Centre, University of Lapland interviews Stefan Kirchner on Inter-American Human Rights system and indigenous peoples’ rights within that context as well as indigenous peoples’ rights in Latin American countries.