ECSR warns Finland for limiting childhood education rights by Sipilä govt

The European Committee on Social Rights (ECSR) on Tuesday warned Finland for the measure taken by the immediate past government led by Juha Sipilä limiting the rights to childhood education of the children of unemployed parents.

The committee issued its ruling on a collective complaint lodged by the Central Union for Child Welfare against Finland in November 2016 concerning the restriction imposed on children’s subjective right to early childhood education and care, said the foreign ministry in a press release.

According to the ECSR, the amendment to the Act on Early Childhood Education and Care, which the erstwhile government of Prime Minister Sipilä brought into force at the beginning of August 2016 limiting children’s right to early childhood education and care to 20 hours a week and granting full-time early childhood education and care mainly to children of full-time students or the children of working parents was contrary to the revised European Social Charter for all the Articles presented in the complaint.

In line with the Programme of the present government led by Prime Minister Sanna Marin, the Act on Early Childhood Education and Care has been amended and the restriction imposed on the right to early childhood education and care will be rescinded as of August 1 this year. After legislative amendments, all children will have an equal right to early childhood education and care, and the socio-economic status or residence of the family will no longer affect the scope of children’s right to early childhood education and care.

According to the ECSR, the 2016 amendment to the Act was also discriminatory from the point of view of the European Social Charter’s Article E on non-discrimination.

The new European Social Charter is an international agreement that safeguards social rights in Europe.

State parties are bound to guarantee respect of the rights incorporated in the charter to all people within their jurisdiction without discrimination. Compliance with the charter is monitored through national reports drawn up periodically by the state parties. In addition, social partners and other non-governmental organisations can lodge collective complaints to the ECSR for rulings on any non-compliance with the charter.