Mattias Åhrén

Mattias Åhrén originates from Ohredahke Sámi, an Indigenous reindeer herding community in northern Sweden. He holds Master of Law degrees from Stockholm University and the University of Chicago, and a PhD from The Arctic University of Norway (UiT), where he is a former professor and presently a visiting law professor. Åhrén teaches international law, human rights, Indigenous peoples’ rights and Sámi rights at universities around the world. He has written extensively on Sámi and Indigenous rights, including Indigenous Peoples’ Status in the International Legal System. 

As a practicing lawyer, Åhrén has served in a diplomatic capacity in numerous UN negotiations and processes relevant to Indigenous peoples’ human and other rights, especially with his leading role in the negotiations before the adoption of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Åhrén has also been commissioned to write expert reports by UN system organizations and specialized agencies. He has acted as counsel to Sámi Indigenous reindeer herding communities in proceedings before domestic courts and international judicial institutions, most recently in the Rönnbäcken case before the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. 

Åhrén has also served, on several occasions, as an expert witness in domestic court proceedings on Sámi land and resource rights, including in the seminal Girjas case. He has appeared in the same capacity before national parliaments and has participated as an appointed expert member in national legislative committees. Åhrén was a member of the Expert Group, which wrote the draft Nordic Sámi Convention.