{"id":3427,"date":"2025-09-06T00:33:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T22:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/?p=3427"},"modified":"2025-09-08T07:40:05","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T05:40:05","slug":"sami-parliament-urges-finland-for-long-term-funding-of-the-truth-commissions-psychosocial-support-services","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/2025\/09\/06\/sami-parliament-urges-finland-for-long-term-funding-of-the-truth-commissions-psychosocial-support-services\/","title":{"rendered":"S\u00e1mi Parliament Urges Finland for Long-Term Funding of the Truth Commission\u2019s Psychosocial Support Services"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Barents Observer<\/em> reported on August 31 that the S\u00e1mi Parliament<\/em> in Finland has urged the government to extend funding for the psychosocial support unit Uvjj \u2013 Uvj\u00e2 \u2013 Uvja<\/em> beyond 2025. The request comes as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission<\/em>, established in 2021 to examine discrimination and assimilation policies targeting the S\u00e1mi people, approaches the end of its mandate. The Parliament urged the government to secure budget support through 2026 and adopt legislation by 2027 to make the service permanent. (The Barents Observer<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Sajos,
Sajos, the S\u00e1mi Cultural Centre in Inari, houses the Finnish S\u00e1mi parliament. Photo: Thomas Nilsen <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

As the Truth and Reconciliation Commission\u2019s <\/em>(TRC) mandate nears completion, the S\u00e1mi Parliament\u2019s<\/em> push to extend the TRC\u2019s psychosocial support unit can be considered a test of Finland\u2019s commitment to a comprehensive transitional justice process. The unit, created to provide culturally grounded, S\u00e1mi-language mental health support during testimony, has been lauded by the UN Special Rapporteur on Transitional Justice<\/em> and the Council of Europe<\/em>, who recommended that the unit would be established as a permanent structure with adequate resources (pending impact assessment). Around 10,000 S\u00e1mi live in Finland, of which 60% live outside the legally defined homeland, which is exactly where access to S\u00e1mi-language services is the thinnest. Uvja<\/em>\u2019s model of care provision in North S\u00e1mi, Inari S\u00e1mi and Skolt S\u00e1mi fills that gap and helps mitigate the retraumatisation that truth processes can trigger when support systems are absent or generic. As the TRC prepares to publish its findings in 2026, demand for follow-up counselling is likely to rise rather than fall. Moreover, a permanent Uvja<\/em> would signal that Finland\u2019s Arctic governance transcends purely extractive debates to include Indigenous well-being and institutional resilience. It would also help narrow a credibility gap as Finland is yet to ratify the International Labor Organization Convention 169<\/em> on Indigenous rights, a benchmark considered by many as long overdue. While ratification remains politically sensitive, entrenching culturally competent services is a tangible step that strengthens trust and legitimacy of state-S\u00e1mi relations after the mandate of the TRC comes to a close. (Council of Europe<\/a>, Queen\u2019s University<\/a>, The Barents Observer<\/a>, University of Birmingham<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A permanent Uvja would signal that Finland\u2019s Arctic governance transcends purely extractive debates to include Indigenous well-being and institutional resilience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3428,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"yes","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-habitat"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3427"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3427\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3431,"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3427\/revisions\/3431"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}