Human rights in Finland
Human rights in Finland are freedom of speech, religion, association, and assembly as upheld in law and in practice. Individuals are guaranteed basic rights under the constitution, by legislative acts, and in treaties relating to human rights ratified by the Finnish government. The constitution provides for an independent judiciary.
Finland has been ranked far above average among the world's countries in democracy, press freedom, and human development.
Amnesty International has expressed concern regarding some issues in Finland, such as alleged permitting of stopovers of CIA rendition flights, the imprisonment of objectors to military service, and societal discrimination against Romani people and members of other ethnic and linguistic minorities.
Background
On 6 December 1917, Finland declared independence. Previously, Finland had been a part of Sweden and then an autonomous part of Russia.Justice system
Capital punishment
In peacetime, as an independent state, Finland's criminal justice system has never invoked the death penalty. In 1825, when Finland was an autonomous state under Russia, Tahvo Putkonen was executed. This was the last peacetime execution. In 1944, during World War II, the last wartime executions were carried out.Search and seizure
Under Finnish law, no Court ordered search warrant is required in order for police to conduct a search and seizure procedure. The European Court of Human Rights and the Finnish Parliamentary Deputy Ombudsman have been critical of improper search and seizure procedures used by the Finnish police.Freedom of expression
Individuals of Finland have their freedom of expression enshrined by their Constitution in Section 12. This Section gives broad protections regarding an individual's ability to express, in any form, without being stopped from doing so by anyone. The Section states, however, that more details regarding freedom of expression will be laid down in an Act. It further states that there may be restrictions related to children's programming that will be laid down by an Act.Beyond the Constitution, Finland is a signer of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. In Article 10 of this treaty, it is stated that individuals are free "to hold opinions and to receive and impart information... without interference by public authority."
In 2010, the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms found that Finland violated Article 10 when it fined editors and journalists of two magazines for publishing the name and identity of a woman who was involved in a violent altercation with a public official. The articles were deemed an invasion of the woman's privacy by Finnish courts, but the ECtHR ruled that the public interest outweighed her privacy rights in this case and that fines created a chilling effect on press freedom.
In 2011, Finland convicted artist Ulla Karttunen for possessing and distributing child pornography after she played photographs of minors in sexual poses as an art project. She appealed to the ECtHR which denied her appeal and found in favor of protecting the rights of minors.
In 2015, Susan Ruusunen, the ex-girlfriend of then-Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen, published a book detailing their private relationship, which led to fines for breaching privacy. The ECtHR upheld Finland's decision and found no violation of Article 10. ECtHR held that public interest in the Prime Minister's life did not outweigh his privacy rights.
Freedom of speech
Advocated by early liberal thinker and member of parliament of Finnish origin Anders Chydenius, Sweden adopted one of the first freedom of the press acts in 1766. The act abolished the previously mandatory pre-press censorship of printed works, although blasphemy and outright criticism of the monarch remained forbidden. However, the act was rolled back and reintroduced multiple times. During the period of Russian sovereignty censorship was practiced by the Imperial Russian government. The 1905 unrest in Russia led to the November Manifesto by the Czar, reintroducing freedom of the speech and press. With independence, freedom of speech and press was reaffirmed in the new constitution and generally respected. The major exception was wartime censorship during World War II. Some leftist works were banned in the 1930s whereas during the era of Finlandization, major news outlets practiced self-censorship in order to not antagonize the Soviet Union.Blasphemy remains illegal, as does incitement to ethnic hatred.
In April 2016 Finland's national broadcaster Yle became under pressure from the then Finance Minister Alexander Stubb and tax authorities to hand over information related to the extensive Panama Papers data leak. This may jeopardise freedom of speech in Finland and the media access in any news related to corruption in Finland. Alexander Stubb has repeatedly expressed his willingness to forgive all financial crimes related to tax havens. Finland's tax authorities have threatened to secure search warrants to raid Yle's premises and journalists’ homes in pursuit of the Panama Papers. About a dozen Finnish lawyers or Finnish business persons have worked with Mossack Fonseca to build tax companies from 1990 to year 2015.
Elections and civil contribution
In 1907, Finland adopted universal suffrage, making the nation one of the first to allow all adult citizens, regardless of wealth or gender, to vote and stand for election. Within the population, 3.6% are foreign residents. Since 1917, two general referendums have been held. The first was the 1931 Finnish prohibition referendum and the second, the 1994 Finnish European Union membership referendum.Since 2012, citizens' initiatives have allowed citizens to request that the parliament consider proposed legislation. A minimum of 50,000 supporters must sign a petition to allow the initiative to proceed. The first successful citizens' initiative was the banning of fur farming. Signatures supporting the initiative were received from 70,000 citizens in the designated time period. The second citizen's initiative was for equal marriage rights in 2013.
Equality
Women's rights
After New Zealand and Australia, Finland was the third nation to allow women to vote. In 1907, Finland was the first nation to allow women to vote and to also compete in a parliamentary election. The first female minister elected to the Parliament of Finland was Miina Sillanpää. She served as the Second Minister for Social Affairs in the 1926 to 1927 parliamentary term. Tarja Halonen, who served from 2000 to 2012, was the first female President of Finland.In 1878, in Porvoo, Charlotta Backman became the first female director of a post office.
In 1886, Vera Hjält opened a factory to manufacture her patented carpenters' bench. In 1903, she became the first woman in Finland to be made a trade inspector. She was required to end disputes and strikes. She worked to end discrimination against women in the work place. Hjalt was a Member of Parliament for ten years.
Tekla Hultin was the first woman to receive a doctorate from the University of Helsinki She went on to study in Russia and France and was a Member of Parliament for 15 years.
Until 1926, Finnish women applying for public office had to apply for an exemption based on gender. In this respect, equality was not achieved until 1975.
Finnish women may inherit and own property. Aurora Karamzin inherited her ex-husband, a Russian, Paul Demidov's estate. After the death of her second husband, Andrei Karamzin, Karamzin managed her property and industrial assets. She participated in social security work in Finland and in Russia and worked in education and health care. In 1867, she founded the Helsingin Diakonissalaitos.
On 6 March 1988, the first women to become priests were ordained in Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland. The first woman to become a bishop was elected in 2010.
Still today, Finland struggles with a chronic human rights violence against women. Each year, in Finland, up to twenty women are killed by their husbands or ex-husbands. Human rights organisations, including Amnesty International, have criticised the lack of action to fulfill the needed services for the victims of gendered violence, listed in the resolution of the Istanbul Convention. Access to these services is both limited an unequal based on one's place of residence.
Gender equality at work
The UN Human Rights Committee has expressed concern about gender inequality in Finnish working life. In 2013, the difference between salary received by men and that received by women, for the same work, was 8 percent. Employers provided more training for men, while women applied for training in greater numbers than men.Finnish law calls upon companies with more than thirty employees to have a gender equality plan. In August 2013, many companies neglected to obey this law. However, the law was poorly enforced.
In 1945, following World War II, legislation was made for women's salary to be 80% of men in equal jobs in Finland; this was repealed in 1962, although wage gaps have persisted. In 2018, women earned on average 16% less than men.
Children's rights
Finland has ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Having children work or beg is forbidden as is any misuse of children. Furthermore, it is illegal to hit a child under unreasonable conditions.The number and backgrounds of teen prostitutes in Finland is not recorded. Buying or attempting to buy sex from a minor is a crime in Finland. Legal responsibility for the deed always lies with the buyer.