does not indicate the existence of a violation of article 27. For these reasons, the Government contends that, even if the Committee should come to the conclusion that the complaint falls within the scope of article 27, there has been no breach of the Covenant. The complaint should in this case be declared inadmissible as manifestly ill-founded. 5.1 Commenting on the State party's submission under rule 91, the author, in submissions dated 5 and 12 November 1986, contends that his allegations with respect to violations of articles 1 and 27 are well-founded. 5.2 With regard to article 1 of the Covenant, the author states: The old Lapp villages must be looked upon as small realms, not States, with their own borders and their government and with the right to neutrality in war. This was the Swedish position during the Vasa reign and is well expressed in the royal letters by Gustavus Vasa of 1526, 1543 and 1551. It was also confirmed by Gustavus Adolphus in 1615 and by a royal judgement that year for Suondavare Lapp village ... In Sweden there is no theory, as there is in some other countries, that the King or the State was the first owner of all land within the State's borders. In addition to that, there was no State border between Sweden and Norway until 1751 in Lapp areas. In Sweden, there is the notion of allodial land rights, meaning land rights existing before the State. These allodial land rights are acknowledged in the travaux préparatoires of the 1734 law-book for Sweden, including even Finnish territory. Sweden has difficulty to understand Kitok's complaint under article 1. Kitok's position under article 1, paragraph 1, is that the Sami people has the right to self-determination ... If the world Sami population is about 65,000, 40,000 live in Norway, 20,000 in Sweden, 4,000 to 5,000 in Finland and the rest in the Soviet Union. The number of Swedish Sami in the kernel areas between the vegetation-line and the Norwegian border is not exactly known, because Sweden has denied the Sami the right to a census. If the number is tentatively put at 5,000, this population in Swedish Sami land should be entitled to the right to selfdetermination. The existence or Sami in other countries should not be allowed to diminish the right to self-determination of the Swedish Sami. The Swedish Sami cannot have a lesser right because there are Sami in other countries ... 5.3 With respect to article 27 of the Covenant, the author states: The 1928 law was unconstitutional and not consistent with international law or with Swedish civil law. The 1928 statute said that a non-sameby-member like Ivan Kitok had reindeer breeding, hunting and fishing rights but was not entitled to use those rights. This is a most extraordinary statute, forbidding a person to use civil rights in his possession. The idea was to make room for the Sami who had been displaced to the north, by reducing the number of Sami who could use their inherited land and water rights ... The result is that there are two categories of Sami in the kernel Sami areas in the north of Sweden between the vegetation-line of 1873 and the Norwegian 1751 border. One category is the full Sami, i.e., the village Sami; the other is the halfSami, i.e., the non-village Sami living in the Sami village area, having land and water rights but by statute prohibited to use those rights. As this prohibition for the half-Sami is contrary to international and domestic law, the 1928-1971 statute is invalid and cannot forbid the half-Sami from exercising his reindeer breeding, hunting and fishing rights. As a matter of fact, the half-Sami have exercised their hunting and fishing rights, especially fishing rights, without the permission required by statute. This has been common in the Swedish Sami kernel lands and was valid until the highest administrative court of Sweden rendered its decision on 6 June 1985 in the Ivan Kitok case... Kitok's position is that he is denied the right to enjoy the culture of the Sami as he is just a half-Sami, whereas the Sami village members are full Sami ... The Swedish Government has admitted that reindeer breeding is an essential element in the Sami culture. When Sweden now contends that the majority of the Swedish Sami have no special rights according to the present law, this is not true. Sweden goes on to say "these other Sami have found it more difficult to maintain their Sami identity 'and many of them are today assimilated in Swedish society. Indeed the majority of this group does not even live within the area where reindeer-herding Sami live". Ivan Kitok comments that he speaks for the estimated 152