The Paradox of Progress: How Green Development in the European Arctic Exacerbates Human Rights Violations

Abstract

The pursuit for a better future for everyone oftentimes oversteps the livelihoods of the inhabitants of Indigenous Lands. The Arctic is at the forefront of several States’ interests, as it is seen as a bountiful and unexplored area. Many North American Tribes have been fighting for salvaging their lands from capitalistic ventures for decades — and the sole European Indigenous group, the Sámi, is not far behind. To satisfy the demand of clean energy, an extensive amount of resources is needed, and their extraction is generally a violent event, with severe repercussions on the land and everything that lives around it. It is notable, though, that clean energy entails profits, and many are jumping at the chance to increase their capitals, regardless of the impact their ventures will have on the land and its inhabitants. Hence, human and environmental rights violations are not so farfetched in the pursuit for a better future — as it often implies the betterment of the inhabitants of the global north and not the minorities or those who live in the global south.