Background information from the Finnish Non-Discrimination Ombudsman for ECRI’s monitoring visit 2024
The Non-Discrimination Ombudsman thanks ECRI for the opportunity to share its views on racism and intolerance in Finland prior to ECRI’s monitoring visit in autumn 2024. Please find below answers to your questions on equality bodies and our views on some of the current developments regarding racism and intolerance in Finland.
Racism is a significant social problem in Finland
After the parliamentary elections in the spring of 2023, there was much public debate around the subject of racism in Finnish society. In July, the Finnish Government appointed a working group to prepare a government statement to the Parliament on promoting equality and non-discrimination in Finnish society. The statement resulted from discussion in the summer of 2023 concerning Prime Minister Petteri Orpo's government and its individual members and attitudes towards racism.
The Non-Discrimination Ombudsman is concerned about the risk of racism and hate speech becoming normalised in politics. Normalisation of racism and hate speech in politics is a troubling phenomenon that widely affects society as a whole. Research has shown that the manner in which we use language – including when talking about various minorities – builds, renews, changes and creates meanings in the social reality around us. Language both depicts reality and constructs it. Complaints received by the Ombudsman illustrate how normalisation of racism and hate speech in Finnish society raises concerns, fear and insecurity, especially among minorities.
Complaints received by the Non-Discrimination Ombudsman and the Ombudsman's work with customers indicate that racist discrimination and harassment appear to be extensively present in various aspects of life. Experiences of racist discrimination or harassment are rarely just individual incidents – they are often persistent, cumulative, extend over various aspects of life and multiple generations, and take concrete form in different institutional connections.
The Non-Discrimination Ombudsman’s background note also includes information on racist discrimination and harassment, hate speech and hate-motivated violence, a police operation targeting the Roma people, rights of the indigenous Sámi and foreigner’s rights in Finland.
Read the background information: Background information from the Finnish Non-Discrimination Ombudsman for ECRI’s monitoring visit 2024 (PDF).
24.05.2024
