Saami truth and reconciliation commissions.

The aim of this article is to discuss the difficulties that may be encountered by the Saami truth and reconciliation commissions examining abuses against Saami indigenous peoples in Norway, Finland and Sweden. This is a significant and very recent problem, and as such, has hardly been researched in the international academia. There is rich literature on the truth and reconciliation commissions in general as well as on specific cases, but not on the Saami commissions. The research method adopted is that of legal-institutional analysis as well as content analysis of relevant literature (discourse analysis). The article examines general characteristics of truth and reconciliation commissions also from a historical-philosophical perspective supported by the developments of international law, and against this background it analyzes the establishment of Saami truth and reconciliation commissions, their regulations, functions as well as the potential difficulties. Conclusions will indicate potential benefits coming from the Commissions' work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]