A/HRC/36/8 60. The delegation described the measures that were being taken to prohibit and reduce corporal punishment and other violence against children. With regard to the best interest of intersex infants, increasing attention was being paid to the information provided to parents on the child’s development and the right to self-determination. Discussions on that topic were ongoing. On child protection measures, the Finnish Child Welfare Act stressed that the best interest of the child must be taken into consideration in all social welfare actions. Taking a child into custody was a last resort. 61. The delegation elaborated on police activities with respect to violence against women and support for victims. As for countering hate crimes, racism and xenophobia, the Government had allocated €10 million to the police in 2016. Furthermore, a new National Action Plan for the Prevention of Violent Radicalization and Extremism had been prepared in 2016. With respect to activities to counter trafficking in human beings, the Government had adopted its Action Plan against Human Trafficking 2016-2017. The delegation emphasized the importance of the creation and further development of a national referral mechanism and of anti-trafficking training. 62. The delegation described the government action plan on asylum policy and legislative and other procedural changes in the field of asylum. All asylum applications were assessed individually and all aspects of the case and relevant country of origin information was taken into account. The law on detention of asylum seekers and other foreigners contained strict preconditions for the detention of minors: unaccompanied children could only be detained if they were over 15 years of age and had been issued with an enforceable removal decision. Since 2017, the law had provided for a new precautionary measure, namely the obligation for an alien to stay in a specific reception centre, which further reduced the need to detain minors. 63. The delegation stated that human rights had been included in the new primary school curriculum since 2014, with the aim of teaching, respecting, protecting, promoting and implementing human rights at all levels. Furthermore, the recommendations of a study conducted in 2014 on democracy and human rights in teacher education had been implemented in 2015. Relevant in-service training had started in 2016 and would be evaluated in 2017. 64. A working group had been set up in 2017 to review the system of representatives for unaccompanied minors, and the Integration Act was being redrafted in the light of a regional reform. In that context, the Government would review the governance of the housing and support provided for unaccompanied minors who had a residence permit, while taking into account the best interest of the child and the possibility for the minor to stay in the same region before and after receiving the residence permit. Furthermore, measures were being taken to increase transparency on the gender pay gap. Moreover, Finland had ratified the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights in 2014 and was currently focusing on studies, capacity-building, dialogue and remedies in that regard. 65. The Government was drafting a proposal to Parliament to accede to the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance and for Finland to recognize in full the competence of the Committee on Enforced Disappearances. Finland actively monitored reservations made to international human rights treaties and objected to reservations deemed to be incompatible with the object and purpose of a treaty. Finland had valid reservations to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Nonetheless, the necessity of maintaining the reservations and the possibility of withdrawing them were reviewed periodically. 66. Azerbaijan applauded the special legislative and institutional measures the Government had taken in response to the universal periodic review recommendations on enhancing anti-discrimination action. 67. Bangladesh appreciated the central values and goals of equality and nondiscrimination in Finnish society and the TRUST project, through which unaccompanied minors, stakeholders and care practitioners worked together to find solutions for an inclusive society. Bangladesh commended Finland for the legislative amendments, action plans and various projects it had introduced in order to combat violence against women. 8

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