Finland reports to UN on racism, racial discrimination and intolerance
Press release 315/2011
22 November 2011
Finland submitted to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) the combined 20th, 21st and 22nd periodic report on the implementation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. The report covers the period from August 2007 to this autumn.
The report outlines the latest legislative, judicial and administrative developments and measures taken to eradicate racial discrimination, intolerance and xenophobia, such as cooperation between authorities for prevention of racial discrimination, the right to equal treatment in courts of law and other areas or jurisprudence, the status of immigrants and foreign prisoners, and the right to security of person and protection by the state against violence or bodily harm.
Furthermore, the report provides replies to the questions posed by the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination regarding, for instance, the status and the rights of the Sámi, ratification of the Additional Protocol to the Council of Europe Convention on cybercrime, and implementation of the Equality is Priority project and its effects on the increased acceptance of cultural differences in public administration.
The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) entered into force in Finland in 1970. The objective of the Convention is to prevent discrimination between human beings on the grounds of race, colour, descent or national or ethnic origin. Parties to the Convention must submit periodic reports on the implementation of the Convention to the monitoring organ, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The reports must also provide replies to the Committee’s questions on the follow-up of the earlier concluding observations and recommendations.
The report was drafted at the Unit for Human Rights Courts and Conventions (OIK-40) of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in cooperation with the relevant authorities. Comments were also invited from non-governmental organisations for the elaboration of the report.
Finland’s report will probably be processed by the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination next year.
Finland’s periodic reports and the Committee’s earlier concluding observations and recommendations can be found on the Ministry for Foreign Affairs website.
Further information: Counsellor Jaakko Halttunen, tel. +358 9 1605 5713, Legal Officer Krista Oinonen, tel. +358 9 1605 5731, Unit for Human Rights Courts and Conventions of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, [email protected]