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Recent Legal Developments in Sweden: What Effect for Finnish and Meänkieli Speakers?

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Recent Legal Developments in Sweden: What Effect for Finnish and Meänkieli Speakers? Heidi Öst* Recent Legal Developments in Sweden: What Eff ect for Finnish and Meänkieli Speakers? I. Introduction Th e Sami, the Tornedalers,1 the Sweden Finns,2 the Roma and the Jews are groups that have lived in Sweden for a long time and have thus far succeeded in maintain- ing distinct cultural identities without enjoying any special protection from the Swedish state. In fact, most of the time, members of these groups have been treated as outsiders by the state,3 and certain measures adopted by the state have even been aimed at dissolving some of these groups. Following several immigration waves in the twentieth century however, Sweden has increasingly redefi ned itself as a multicultural state and fi nally come to accept a responsibility to support the survival of all ethnic and linguistic minorities in the country. Sweden recognized all of the aforementioned groups as national minorities in 1999.4 In connection * Heidi Öst is a resarcher at the Åland Islands Peace Institute with a background in international relations and human rights law. Within the seventh framework programme research project, European Language Diversity for All (ELDIA), she authored a legal and institutional framework report on Swedish, Finnish and Mäenkieli in Sweden, available electronically from the ELDIA homepage, at <www. eldia-project.org>. 1 Tornedalers are regularly referred to as Tornedalers in English. Exceptionally, the term Tornedalians is used; see, for example, the website of the association Tornedal- ians in the world, at <http://wirlof.homelinux.com/am_versionen/index.htm>. 2 Sweden Finns are regularly referred to as Swedish Finns in English by the Swed- ish government and other actors. Th e term Sweden Finns is, however, used by the main representative organs of the minority, see Th e Sweden Finnish Delegation, at <http://www.sverigefi nne.nu/english.html>. Th erefore, the author has chosen to employ Sweden Finns instead of Swedish Finns. 3 Th e prime example of this practice took place in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, when for example, the Roma were legally declared outlaws. 4 For a discussion of the processes leading up to this recognition, see, for example, Sia Spiliopoulou Åkermark and Leena Huss, “Ten Years of Minority Discourse in Sweden”, in Sia Spiliopoulou Åkermark (ed.), International Obligations and National European Yearbook of Minority Issues Vol 10, 2011, ISBN 978-90-04-25634-7. pp. 563-582. Copyright 2013 Koninklijke Brill NV. Heidi Öst with this recognition, Sweden adopted, for the fi rst time, legislation recognizing the right to use Finnish, Meänkieli and Sami before administrative authorities and courts in a number of municipalities in the north of Sweden. Shortly there- after, Sweden ratifi ed the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (hereinafter, the Framework Convention) and the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (hereinafter, the Language Charter) of the Council of Europe.5 In the fi rst rounds of reporting, both the Committee of Experts that monitors the implementation of the Language Charter and the Advisory Committee for the Framework Convention pointed out inadequacies with the new Swedish minority language legislation. Th e aim of this article is to examine recent legal enactments in Sweden that to a greater or lesser extent have attempted to address issues raised by the Council of Europe monitoring committees. Th e new Act on National Minorities and National Minority Languages of 2009, which by its entry into force in January 2010 extended geographically the administrative areas for Finnish and Sami, will of course be examined.6 Some other recent legal developments, such as the adop- tion in 2008 of a new Discrimination Act and in 2009 of a Language Act as well as the reform of the Instrument of Government in 2010, will also be discussed briefl y. Th e main research question this article sets out to answer is: how have these reforms aff ected the position of individuals identifying with a national minority in Sweden in general and of Finnish and Meänkieli speakers in particular? Th e article is structured in two parts. Th e fi rst part will outline the afore- mentioned legal developments aff ecting national minorities in Sweden and will analyze their eff ect on the legal protection of national minorities in general in Sweden. In the second part, the position of Finnish and/or Meänkieli speakers in Sweden will be in focus, examining in detail what eff ect the recent legal enact- ments have had on the right to use and receive services in Finnish and/or Meänkieli in a number of areas of public life, such as before administrative authorities, before courts, in connection with social services, in education and in media. Th e article is primarily based on material gathered by the author during the course of the author’s engagement in the research project European Language Diversity for All (ELDIA),7 between October 2010 and May 2011. Th e research the author conducted during the ELDIA project focused on the legal situation of Debates: Minorities around the Baltic Sea (Th e Åland Islands Peace Institute, Marie- hamn, 2006), 545-587. 5 Sweden signed the Framework Convention 1 February 1995 and ratifi ed the con- vention on 9 February 2000. Th e Convention entered into force in Sweden on 1 June 2000. See the website of the Council of Europe, at <www.coe.int/minorities>. Th e Language Charter was signed and ratifi ed by Sweden on 9 February 2000 and entered into force on 1 June 2000. See <www.coe.int/minlang>. 6 Th e Swedish title of the new minority language act is Lag om nationella minoriteter och minoritetsspråk (2009:724). 7 ELDIA is an interdisciplinary research project carried out within the Seventh Framework Programme of the EU to reconceptualize, promote, and reevaluate 564.
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