Indigenous Persons with Disabilities: The Quest for Legal Recognition of Intersectionality and the Prohibition of Multiple Discrimination using the Example of the Sámi People in Finland

Abstract

Indigenous peoples have attracted a lot of attention in international legal and political instruments during the last couple of decades. Only very recently, however, have international institutions started to address the situation of minorities within minorities that often experience multiple discrimination. This article focuses on the vulnerable situation and the rights of Sámi persons with disabilities in Finland as the case study to demonstrate the inadequacy of different legal regimes to recognise and thus help to prevent and overcome the multiple discrimination of persons with disabilities who also belong to the indigenous community. The article calls for an intersectional approach to law, in order to recognise that persons with multiple identities may need legal protection that recognises the problem of multiple discrimination, and thereby adequately protects their rights and equality.