Grounds for discrimination
Grounds for discrimination prohibited by the Non-discrimination Act are age, origin, nationality, language, religion, belief, opinion, political activity, trade union activity, family relationships, state of health, disability, sexual orientation and other personal characteristics.
Discrimination related to gender, gender identity and gender expression belongs to the domain of the Ombudsman for Equality.
Age refers to the age a person has reached. Age as grounds for discrimination covers all ages. Therefore, the prohibition of discrimination in the Non-discrimination Act applies to discrimination of people of all ages.
Discrimination based on age may include, for example, not letting young people of a certain age into the library in the evenings.
Read more on our page age discrimination.
Origin refers to the ethnic or national origin of a person. Origin also includes skin colour and other characteristics related to origin. People may have one or more origins, and anyone can become a victim of discrimination based on origin.
The legislation is especially strong for protection from discrimination against ethnic origin. Different treatment based on ethnic origin is only acceptable in very rare cases.
Discrimination based on origin may include, for instance, not selecting a Roma, a person with African background or a member of another ethnic minority for a specific job or other task or not allowing such a person into a shop or restaurant because of their origin.
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Citizenship refers to being a citizen of a certain country. You can receive the citizenship of a country either by birth or through application. Citizenship determines the position of a person in a state, and it is significant with regard to the rights and responsibilities of an individual.
Discrimination based on citizenship may include, for example, limiting an apartment only to Finnish people in a housing advertisement or excluding a specific group, such as foreigners.
Language refers to the national languages: Finnish and Swedish, the Sámi languages, sign languages, and depending on the case, also other languages and various dialects.
According to the Constitution of Finland, public authorities shall provide for the cultural and societal needs of the Finnish-speaking and Swedish-speaking populations of the country on an equal basis. Everyone has the right to use Finnish or Swedish when dealing with a state authority or an authority in a bilingual municipality. According to the Sámi Language Act, Sámi people always have the right to use Finnish or the Sámi language when dealing with the authorities in Sámi homeland.
Language-based discrimination may involve, for instance, a bilingual authority only providing services in Finnish, or a bank requiring the customers to understand the terms and conditions of a service agreement that is only available in Finnish or in Swedish.
Religion refers to the traditional world religions such as Christianity, Islam, Judaism and Hinduism as well as new religious movements.
Belief refers to a non-religious ideology or philosophy of life. Beliefs include atheism and pacifism, for example.
Religion-based discrimination may include, for instance, being forced to participate in practicing religion against one’s will at school or people being prohibited from using clothing or symbols related to their religion at work or school.
Opinion refers to a person’s political and social views and opinions, among other things. Discrimination based on opinion is fundamentally related to the freedom of speech secured by the Constitution of Finland.
Discrimination based on opinion may be involved if a person is not accepted as a member of an association due to their social or political opinion, unless the regulations of the association in question require commitment to the values it represents.
Political activity refers to participating in political activities or being a supporter or member of a political party.
Discrimination based on political activity may mean, for example, that a person is not accepted as a member of a leisure time association or allowed to participate in hobby activities because the person supports a specific political party.
Trade union activities refer to membership of or activity in a trade union, for instance. Employees cannot be placed in a different position based on whether they are trade union members or not. The prohibition against discrimination based on trade union activity does not prevent trade unions from offering membership benefits to their members.
For example, participating in a legal industrial action does not constitute acceptable grounds for different treatment in employment, and neither does participating in trade union activities.
The occupational safety and health authorities of the Regional State Administrative Agencies are responsible for monitoring the prohibition of discrimination in working life.
Family relationships refer to people having a family, being unmarried, married, in a registered partnership, cohabiting, in a relationship, divorced or widowed.
Discrimination based on family relationships may mean, for example, that a family with children is not accepted as customers in a restaurant.
Family relationships do not refer to parenthood or pregnancy; discrimination based on those grounds is prohibited by the Act on Equality between Women and Men. The Ombudsman for Equality supervises compliance with the Act on Equality between Women and Men.
State of health refers to both physical and psychological state of health. State of health covers both acute and chronic illnesses.
State of health may also be closely related to another ground for discrimination, disability. Sometimes chronic illness may lead to disability. In addition, chronic illness may sometimes be considered a disability, if it meets the definition of disability.
Discrimination based on state of health may involve, for example, terminating the employment of a person because they are on sick leave.
According to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), people with disabilities include those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which in interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others. The disability may be congenital, or it may be due to an accident or injury.
Discrimination based on disability may involve, for instance, failing to make reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities despite their requests, such as building a ramp or offering online banking credentials in braille.
Read more on our page rights of people with disabilities.
Sexual orientation is a characteristic that describes who a person falls in love with or feels emotional or sexual attraction to. The sexual orientation of a person may be heterosexual, gay, lesbian or bisexual, for example.
Discrimination based on sexual orientation may manifest as, for example, a local register office refusing to marry a couple of the same gender or refusal to rent an apartment to a same-gender couple due to their sexual orientation.
The Ombudsman for Equality monitors discrimination based on gender, gender identity and gender expression.
Read more on our page LGBTI people and equality.
Other personal characteristics may include, for instance, social status, unemployment, homelessness, wealth, place of residence, appearance, or participation in the activities of associations. Other personal reasons may also include not only the innate characteristics of a person, but also their legal status. The key is that the reason is related to the person themselves and their characteristics, not their activities, for example. It must also be comparable to other grounds for discrimination specified in legislation.
Discrimination based on other personal characteristics may include, for instance, requiring a higher security deposit from an unemployed person when renting an apartment.