HR orgs accuse govt´s Prog of threatening to deepen racism

A total of 33 Human Rights (HR) organisations in Finland on Monday accused the programme of the four-party alliance government and comments made by cabinet members of threatening to deepen structural racism in Finland.

The human right organisations including Amnesty International, the Mannerheim League for Child Welfare, Save the Children Finland and the Family Federation of Finland issued a joint statement where they demanded that the government should take legal measures to dismantle system of structural racism in Finland.

Referring to different researches and surveys, the statement said that Finland is one of the most racist countries in Europe and 63 percent of Finns experienced racism or discrimination in the last five years and the number of suspected racist hate crimes has been increasing in the country.

Terming the government's policy as conflicting to the human rights recommendations that Finland has received, the statement said that individual actions, government's equality notification and the anti-racism campaign are not enough when legal programmes against human rights are being pushed forward at the same time.

“For example, the government is narrowing down the rights of foreigners moving to the country and foreigners already living in Finland. The government is, among other things, removing the right of asylum seekers to apply for a work-based residence permit and making the status of undocumented persons more difficult,” the statement added.

The human rights organisations demanded that the government must take Finland's human rights obligations seriously and promote equality genuinely and actively in all areas of politics.

Earlier in September 2023, several thousands of people held a demonstration in Helsinki protesting against racism and criticized the Kansallinen Kokoomus (National Coalition Party-NCP) led four-party alliance government for its policies in this regard.

Fifty percent of the Finnish entrepreneurs believe that the racism debates took place in the country during the summer put a negative impact on Finland´s image, according to a survey commissioned by the Federation of Finnish Enterprises (Suomen Yrittäjät) in August, 2023.

Majority of the respondents also expressed their dissatisfaction over the activities of the Kansallinen Kokoomus (National Coalition Party-NCP) led four-party alliance right-wing government.

The government on August 31 adopted a statement to Parliament on measures to promote equality, gender equality and non-discrimination in Finnish society amidst widespread controversy raised over racial, apparently violent and anti-immigrant comments made by Finance Minister and Chairperson of the radical rightist Perussuomalaiset (Finns Party) Riikka Purra.

Purra came under fire for her comments made in guise of an identity of ´riikka´ in 2008 on a blog hosted by former Chairperson of her party Jussi Halla-aho, also Speaker of the present parliament.

On July 11, Purra admitted that she made the controversial remarks on the Scripta blog 15 years ago in guise of a username "riikka" and apologised for the racial, violent and anti-immigrant comments.

Another minister Wille Rydman made remarks in text messages sent to his former dating partner when he was a lawmaker of the conservative Kansallinen Kokoomus (National Coalition Party-NCP), the main component of the alliance.

Petteri Orpo-led four-party right-wing alliance government took office on June 20.

On July 6, Rydman was appointed as the Minister of Economic Affairs replacing his party colleague Vilhelm Junnila.

Earlier on June 30, Junnila decided to resign following the controversy raised over his links to far-right groups.

Rydman left Kokoomus and joined Perussuomalaiset in January, 2023 following allegations of inappropriate behavious to women in June 2022.

Another Perussuomalaiset leader and Interior Minister Mari Rantanen faced strong criticism for her social media post related to far-right ideology and immigration.

Speaker of the parliament and former Perussuomalaiset Chairperson Jussi Halla-aho, who hosted the Scripta blog was convicted of inciting hatred against an ethnic group in 2012.