Suicide plagues Sweden's Sami youth

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STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- Sweden's indigenous Sami community wants government to do more to reduce what appears to be an increasing number of teenage suicides.

Suicide in the Sami community was a main topic at a weekend conference of Sami youth in Lycksele, Sweden's The Local reported Monday.

The English language news site said the conference issued a declaration that read, "We've been horrified by the fact that so many young Sami feel so poorly that they actually choose to take their lives."

The conference also passed a resolution to be presented to the Sami Parliamentary Council next month calling on the governments of Sweden, Norway and Finland to address the problem.

The geographical region settled by the Sami in northern Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia used to be called Lapland but "Lapp" is considered a derogatory term for referring to members of the community.