COMMITTEE ON RIGHTS OF CHILD CONTINUES EXAMINING REPORT OF FINLAND
Press Release
HR/4287
COMMITTEE ON RIGHTS OF CHILD CONTINUES EXAMINING REPORT OF FINLAND
19960125 GENEVA, 24 January (UN Information Service) -- The Committee on the Rights of the Child this morning continued its consideration of the report of Finland by hearing additional responses from the delegation. The Committee of independent experts is charged with monitoring the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.The Finnish delegation told the Committee that children under eighteen years of age were not interested in politics; instead, they searched for alternative ways of making an impact on society. They considered the actual society to be dull and tedious. However, the present recession and mass unemployment had increased the number of children and young people who ran a risk of becoming socially excluded. Only old people were unaffected by the economic recession. The number of unemployed parents had risen from 2,000 in 1989 to 24,000 in 1994.
Municipalities provided most of the welfare and healthcare services, the delegation continued. A considerable part of such services were also provided by non-governmental organizations. In fact, the services they provided in the field of child welfare, care of the disabled and rehabilitation were bought by municipalities.
In a report on child policy and child protection submitted to Parliament, the Government had proposed to improve the conditions for a consistent child policy by including in the State budget a balance showing the distribution of resources between age groups. The Government also recommended an integrated support and services in day-care, at school, in healthcare and social services.
The Government attached great importance to children's day-care, which played a big role in Finnish society. The majority of Finnish children were cared for in day-care facilities outside their homes. Day-care for children had been the object of intensive development since the entry into force of the Day-Care Act in 1973.
Concerning child labour, the delegates said that only a marginal group of children from fifteen to seventeen years of age were actually working. Moreover, children were not exposed to labour exploitation.
Regarding exposure of children to obscene publications, the delegation stressed that the distribution and public display of indecent articles was
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punishable by law. New provisions were also introduced to protect children under fifteen from seeing pornographic material against their will. In addition, children were protected from the new phenomenon of sex telephone lines. Fifteen years of age was also the limit for sexual consent.
The number of cases treated arising from sexual abuse had risen considerably over the last few years. The retraining of personnel in social welfare and teachers had continued in the prevention of child sexual abuse.
There was still a tendency to discriminate between girls and boys, the delegation said. However, children of both sexes received the same education in all schools; there were more girls than boys in higher education.
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