A/HRC/8/52
page 129
312. With regard to recommendation No. 2, the delegation provided information that the
Ministry of Justice is currently examining the need to amend the legislation to oblige the service
providers of Internet sites to follow up on and erase material amounting to hate speech and racist
offences.
313. With reference to recommendation No. 3, it was stated, inter alia, that first-hand data was
important to better understand the context in which violence within families occurred so as to be
able to provide better services, prevention and monitoring measures, advocacy as well as
awareness-raising. Finland was carrying out the Council of Europe’s Campaign to Combat
Violence against Women in 2008 and a comprehensive study on violence against children will
be published in the autumn.
314. Concerning recommendation No. 4 about considering ratifying the International
Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their
Families, the delegation of Finland clarified that the rights of immigrants were already covered
by national legislation, European Union legislation as well as by other human rights instruments,
including the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental
Freedoms. The basic rights and freedoms of the Finnish Constitution protect everyone residing in
Finland, including migrant workers. Finland did not envisage that consultations between
ministries to revise its position towards the Convention would take place in the near future.
315. Regarding recommendation No. 5, the delegation stated that it pursued actively the
enhancement of the rights of the Sami people. The objective of the present Government is to
solve the issue of the land use question during the current term of the Government. Another
question related to the right of Sami people to participate in decision-making on the use of land
in the Sami homeland area and the delegation stated that the aim of the Government was to find
a solution that would include the prerequisites to ratify ILO Convention No. 169 on Indigenous
and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries.
316. Referring to recommendation No. 6, Finland stated that it was committed to the full and
inclusive application of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and that the
Ombudsman for Minorities found that the accelerated asylum procedure, as a rule, safeguarded
the legal protection of an asylum applicant during the process. Furthermore, the Finnish
Constitution and Aliens Act prohibited deportation of aliens to a country where they could face
the death penalty, torture or ill-treatment.
317. With regard to recommendation No. 7, Finland reported, inter alia, that it had initially
studied the Yogyakarta Principles and recognized their usefulness in bringing greater clarity and
coherence to States’ human rights’ obligations. Finland was committed to further enhancing the
situation of the LGBT people in Finland and the possible role of the Yogyakarta Principles in
this would be studied further.
318. Concerning recommendation No. 8 on fully integrating a gender perspective into the
follow-up process to the universal periodic review, it was explained that the Government was
preparing an action plan for gender equality, the key objectives of which were, among others, to
mainstream the gender perspective, to raise awareness of gender equality in schools and to
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents