Sweden, this year's host country of the Hanover Fair, is regarded as a role model in matters of climate protection and human rights. In the course of the opening of the fair by Prime Minister Stefan Löfven next Sunday, the country will present itself as smart and innovative, green, and cosmopolitan. However, despite all progress, there are reasons to criticize the human rights situation in Sweden: huge wind energy projects are a threat to the traditional way of life of the indigenous Sami in the north of the country.

Wind farms with hundreds of turbines are supposed to provide clean energy for the country's prospering economy. However, there are plans to install them in areas which the Sami use as a pastures for their reindeer – meaning that there is a conflict of interest between progress for Sweden's economy and the rights of the indigenous Sami. Reindeer herding has been a core aspect of their traditional way of life for centuries, and it is the basis of their economic existence.

Another threat to the Sami and their reindeer is the systematic expansion of iron ore mining. The Swedish economy will only become "smart" and "green" if the basic human rights of the Sami are respected. Therefore, the Society for Threatened Peoples calls on the Swedish government not to build wind farms on the pastures without consent of the Sami!

ATTENTION PICTURE EDITORS: As a creative form of protest, some activists will be dressed up as windmills and reindeer.

Header Image: Niels Keilhack , GfbV Archiv