A young Sámi reindeer herder is fighting in court against stately initiated forced culling of reindeer, a policy that will drive him and other reindeer herders out of their livelihood and thereby culture and inherited rights. The forced cull is dramatically affecting small herders such as the youth, and is therefore effectively strangling the recruitment of Sámi reindeer herding. The young herder won his case twice and the verdicts stated that the government violates his rights protected by international conventions on human rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The Norwegian government appealed again to the Norwegian Supreme Court and the reindeer herder lost the case in December 2017. The Norwegian Supreme court vent in favour of the Governments political arguments, disregarding the previous verdicts. The national law affecting Sámi reindeer herders, which sanctions the forced slaughter of reindeer, was passed against the will of the Sámi Parliament, the Reindeer Herders Association of Norway and individual reindeer herders. The case sets a hugely important precedent, in terms of indigenous rights in Norway and the rights of reindeer herders in particular.