Injustice
The Home Rule Law of 1978 was Step 1 in the devolution towards independence of Greenland. It was and is a “hometaking” of some of the areas comprising former colonial Danish political control, which are far-better managed in Greenland by the Greenlanders. Under Article 8, the law and its precedents ensure the people’s rights to ruby collecting for sales purposes, so as to encourage the local business, and to provide an income for the citizens. The population of Greenland has the fundamental right to its natural resources.
Under the Home Rule, surface mineral rights are governed through the Mineral’s Act, wherin the earlier Article 1 (§ 1) was superceded by Article 32 (§32) in which the keyword industrial was arbitrarily changed to commercial, meaning that mineral business requires a permit of some kind, depending on the circumstances.
Greenland’s Bureau of Minerals and Petroleum (BMP), in regulating mineral rights under Article 32, suddenly in 2007 began to interpret the statute in a manner hostile to the best interests of the local villagers in the ruby fields.
The BMP equates the word commercial with the outdated and misleading term semiprecious vs precious, a term in violation of international convention, resulting in an inaccurate and inappropriate exercise of Article 32.
Previously, the BMP had permitted mining and export of ruby by the Greenlanders, but in August of 2007, that changed dramatically with the harrassment the members of the Union; including: denial of prospecting licenses; and, denial of export permits.
The actions of the BMP are designed to serve the interests of a foreign mining company exploring for ruby at the expense of the citizens of the land, whose best interest they are payed to protect and serve.