Since its founding in 1956, the Saami Council has promoted Saami rights and interests in the four countries where the Saami people live: Finland, Norway, Russia, and Sweden. As one of the oldest, still operating, Indigenous Peoples’ organizations in the world, the mandate of the Saami Council is to strengthen the affinity among Saami people, to attain recognition for the Saami as a nation and as Indigenous People, and to maintain the cultural, political, economic and social rights of the Saami. The Saami Council also actively participates in international processes on topics such as Indigenous Peoples, human rights, Indigenous culture, and arctic and environmental issues.