NON-DISCRIMINATION Ombudsman Kristina Stenman is concerned about the risk of normalisation of hate speech and racism in Finnish politics.
Stenman on Tuesday offered her analysis of the current situation to the government task force that is drafting a statement for promoting equality and non-discrimination in response to revelations about racist statements and writings by senior members of the Finns Party.
“The habit of communicating about immigrants in a poignant and generalised way stirs up concerns and even fears especially in this segment of the Finnish population. It may constitute the kind of discrimination that is prohibited under the equality act or a situation that meets the essential elements of the offence of discrimination,” she assessed in her statement to the task force.
“Now we need strong leadership from government ministers, representatives and all party organisations to make sure we can engage also in critical discussion about, for example, measures that promote integration without talking about people or groups of people in an offensive or derogatory way.”
The task force held its first meeting on Tuesday, lending an ear to Stenman, Ombudsman for Equality Rainer Hiltunen, Ombudsman for Children Elina Pekkarinen and Ombudsman for the Elderly Päivi Topo.
Altogether the task force is scheduled to hear roughly 100 stakeholders.
Stenman also implored the task force to recognise in its statement that discrimination in many ways limits the possibilities of, for example, ethnic minorities and disabled people to educate themselves, find employment and consequently participate fully in building society.
“Many women and members of gender or religious minorities also face open harassment and threats that even question their existence,” she highlighted.
The Finnish government simply must take action to prevent racism and promote non-discrimination, according to Stenman.
The government programme, she pointed out, makes no reference to racism or anti-racism measures but lays out proposals to, among other things, introduce changes to integration programmes and limit the access of undocumented immigrants to essential health care. Such revisions threaten to exacerbate the situation of people who are already in very vulnerable positions and expose them to an elevated risk of exploitation and violence.
Aleksi Teivainen – HT
