Legal Cultures and Public Administration
Original Legal Practices in Greenland
Lene Møller
Abstract
The project is a study of the legal development of Inuits collective rights to land, territories and resources they have traditionally inhabited and used.
The study seeks to clarify whether the original legal customs continued to co-exist parallel to the introduction of a formal law.
Historically, hunting has been the basis of existence for Inuit. Hunting is still a primary occupation for a small part of the population and is still a basic culture-creating and thus identity-bearing element.
If legislature does not reach the local population this can manifest itself in a lack of trust in and respect for the role of the legislator.
The citizen's experience of ownership of the law can be important in relation to successful implementation of it. The further away from the central administration one gets, the more difficult it can become to achieve. Therefore, knowledge of and insight into older customs is relevant to keep in mind in new legal regulation.
Many indigenous peoples today constitute a minority in the territory of the nation-state in which they reside. This means, for example, that they may be allocated to special living and hunting areas (reserves). This is not the case in Greenland, as the majority of the population here are Inuit peoples.
In a time with a global focus on sustainability, Greenland, by taking original traditions and customs into account when drafting rules, will not only be able to profile itself internationally, but also in foreign policy, as a modern nation and pioneer country.
Speaker bio
In 2015 Lene Møller finished her Master of Law from Aarhus University in Denmark and moved to Greenland the same year while writing her thesis. During this time she became a student worker at Qaasuitsup District Court in Ilulissat and started gaining interest in the relation between local practices and national laws. Especially confronted with the language and cultural barriers between (Danish) officials and Inuit.
When she finished with the degree she moved to Nuuk to be a Legal advisor at The Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Church, until starting her current employment and project at Ilisimatusarfik.
Legal Mixité & Greenland
Hanne Petersen
Abstract
Since 2009 the term ‘Kingdom of Denmark’ has been the formal term used in foreign affairs for an entity consisting of three parts with differentiated legal and political status, size and population: Denmark, the Faroe Islands and Greenland. This presentation is partly based on my long-term studies of Greenlandic legal history and culture and partly on my contribution about the Kingdom of Denmark to a report for the International Academy of Comparative Law (IACL) for the 2022 conference on ”Multicultural populations and mixed legal systems.” My claim is that both historically and at present one finds in this Kingdom, which consists of small/big entities, a state of “legal mixité” along with degrees of (parallel) ‘self-determinations’/’sovereignty’ expressed in membership of partly overlapping different unions/alliances. The Kingdom further encompasses different and changing self-perceptions, worldviews, legal/normative values and changing legal cultures. It might be moving towards ‘republicanism’ and ‘free association’.
Speaker bio
Hanne Petersen is professor emerita of legal cultures. From 1993-94 she was a Jean Monnet Scholar at EUI in Florence. She was professor (of jurisprudence and sociology of law) at Ilisimatusarfik, University of Greenland from 1995-99, and professor (Greenlandic sociology of law) at University of Copenhagen from 2001-2006. Besides her professorship in Cph she has since 2007 been a visiting professor (2-3 year periods) at University of Tromsø, Norway; Lund University, Sweden, and at Gothenburg University, Sweden.
She has been a member of both Danish, Norwegian and European Research Panels (ERC 2009-2013).
Her research areas and interests have focused on amongst others labour law, gender and law, legal pluralism, sociology of law, indigenous (and Greenlandic) law, legal theory, and legal culture (eg. China – Europe/Nordic, Germany).
She was head of CECS (Centre for Comparative and European Legal Studies) from 2016 – 2020.
Grønland som flygtningeland
Thomas Gammeltoft-Hansen
Abstract
Den danske udlændingelov blev med tilpasninger gennem anordning sat i kraft for Grønland i 2001. Det er dog kun inden for de sidste fem år, at asylsager indgivet i Grønland er blevet behandlet af udlændingemyndighederne, og i 2019 tog den første anerkendte flygtning ophold i Nuuk. Med afsæt i denne sag undersøger artiklen reguleringen af asylsager og flygtninges rettigheder i Grønland som et eksempel på de retlige problemstillinger, der knytter sig til den eksisterende selvstyreordning mellem Danmark og Grønland. Det betyder blandt andet, at den udlændingeretlige regulering i Grønland kan betegnes som en »tidskapsel«, hvor retsgrundlaget fra 2001 betyder, at både asylproceduren og kriterierne for tildeling af asyl i dag er markant anderledes end i Danmark. Modtagelsen af flygtninge rejser desuden principielle spørgsmål i forhold til integrationsområdet.
Speaker bio
Thomas Gammeltoft-Hansen er professor MSO i flygtninge og migrationsret ved iCourts Center of Excellence, Det Juridiske Fakultet, Københavns Universitet. Her leder han Nordic Asylum Law & Data Lab, der kombinerer juridiske, datalogiske og sociologiske metoder til at skabe nye indsigter i nordiske asylafgørelser. Thomas er desuden formand for Nordic Institute for Migration og tidligere medlem af Flygtningenævnet.
Usmans lange rejse
Kristian Husted
Abstract
Hvad sker der, når man søger asyl i Grønland? Man falder – ligesom Alice i Eventyrland – ned i et magisk kaninhul og ind i et juridisk terra incognita, hvor ingen har været før.
Usmans lange rejse er et hørespil om Usman Aleksejevitj der som den første nogensinde har fået asyl i Grønland. Da Usman i sin tid flygtede fra sit hjemland, satte han kursen mod verdens største ø i håb om at springe de lange køer af asylansøgere i andre europæiske lande over. Det skulle han ikke have gjort! Da han endelig efter tre år i det danske asylsystem får et positivt svar på sin asylansøgning, starter en endeløs bureaukratisk ørkenvandring, fordi Usman har vakt en uløst konflikt i Rigsfællesskabet til live.
Undervejs møder vi advokater og sagsbehandlere i Udlændingestyrelsen og Flygtningenævnet, embedsmænd i det grønlandske Departement for Råstoffer og Arbejdsmarked, danske chefer i Nuuk Kommune, helt almindelige grønlændere og en forvirret luftkaptajn.
Usmans lange rejse er en detektivhistorie for otte højttalere. Den viser med kafkask absurditet og humor, hvor nådesløst en stat kan nedbryde et menneske, når statens interesser er på spil. Men også, hvor ukueligt det samme menneske kan forfølge en simpel drøm: At komme i sikkerhed. I Grønland.
Hørespillet er lavet af forfatter og iscenesætter Kristian Husted i samarbejde med lyddesigner Asger Kudahl. Det havde premiere på Husets Teater i København i maj 2019.
Speaker bio
Kristian Husted er en dansk forfatter og scenekunstner der arbejder i krydsfeltet mellem kunst, aktivisme og dokumentarisme. I 2018 udgav han den genreløse bog ’Vahid’, der samtidig var et stykke aktivistisk teater og undersøgende journalistik med det europæiske asylsystem som scene. Kristian samarbejder med forskellige teatre og har været teateranmelder på Politiken. Han er uddannet i litteraturvidenskab fra Københavns Universitet og fysisk teater fra École Jacques Lecoq i Paris.
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See a list of all the seminars in the CECS Seminar Series for Spring 2022.