Statnett SF v. Sør-Fosen Sijte (Sup. Ct. Nor.)

Abstract

On October 11, 2021, the Supreme Court of Norway, sitting as a Grand Chamber, had to decide in three interconnected cases (HR-2021-1975-S) whether the construction of certain wind power plants, which will form part of the largest onshore wind power project in Europe, in a particular rural area interfered with (Sami) reindeer herders’ rights to enjoy their own culture according to Article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The case, which had been initiated long before Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine and concomitant spiking energy prices—which might have added an extra dimension to the underlying, countervailing issues—pits efforts to increasingly produce “green,” renewable energy and the minority rights of a particular cultural group against each other. Taking the peculiar requirements of reindeer husbandry, the need for safe winter pastures, and the specific geographical conditions of the locus delicti into account, the Court concluded that the windfarms would have a substantial negative effect on the reindeer herders’ possibility to enjoy their own culture, which, in the absence of satisfactory remedy measures, threatened the very existence of reindeer husbandry on Fosen, and therefore found a violation of Article 27, ICCPR.