FINLAND SEEKS TO BRING ITS CONSTITUTION INTO COMPLETE COMPLIANCE WITH INTERNATIONAL INSTRUMENTS, HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE TOLD

1 April 1998

Press Release
HR/CT/513

FINLAND SEEKS TO BRING ITS CONSTITUTION INTO COMPLETE COMPLIANCE WITH INTERNATIONAL INSTRUMENTS, HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE TOLD

19980401 Begins Consideration of Finland's Implementation Of International Covenant on Civil, Political Rights

Finland's goal was to achieve total compliance at the constitutional level between its system of fundamental rights and international human rights instruments, an official of that Government told the Human Rights Committee this morning, as it began its consideration of Finland's compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

The President of the Supreme Administrative Court of Finland, Pekka Hallberg, drew attention to Finland's constitutional provision restricting derogation from fundamental rights in accordance with the Covenant. Even under exceptional circumstances of threat to the nation, derogations from fundamental rights provisions were required to be temporary, necessary and in conformity with human rights obligations under international law.

Veli-Pekka Viljanen, Legislative Counsellor of the Ministry of Justice, said domestic legal protections for alleged violations of rights under the Covenant were covered by the constitutional provisions on legal assistance. Even when a claimant brought charges on good grounds and lost a case, the responsibility to bear costs was equitably shared by the individual and the State. Those rights extended to the Aaland islands, where the Covenant was constitutionally applicable, as elsewhere in Finland.

Many experts expressed concern over the growing phenomenon of racially motivated crimes in Finland. Paivi Pietarinen, Legal Officer at Finland's Foreign Ministry, said police were required to report racially motivated assaults. The Ministry of Justice had also established a working group to determine if the punishment for racist crimes should be increased.

__________ * Meetings 1656 through 1658 were closed.

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The Committee's expert members also raised questions concerning domestic violence and trafficking in women. Irma Ertman, Deputy Director-General of the Foreign Ministry, said that educational and social programmes were being instituted to combat domestic violence, including programmes aimed at preventing the use of violence by men.

Comments were made and questions raised by the experts from Germany, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Egypt, Mauritius, Japan, Italy and Israel.

The Human Rights Committee will meet again at 3 p.m. today to continue its consideration of Finland's fourth periodic report.

Committee Work Programme

The Human Rights Committee met this morning to begin its consideration of Finland's fourth periodic report on its compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (document CCPR/C/95/Add.6).

Article 40 of the Covenant provides that State parties shall submit reports to the Committee on measures they have taken to implement the Covenant's provisions. The report should provide information on changes made or proposed in laws and practices relevant to the Covenant, and on progress made since the Committee last considered the State party's implementation of the Covenant.

According to the report, a government bill on amending provisions of Finland's Constitution on fundamental rights entered into force on 1 August 1995. That general reform modernized Finland's system of fundamental rights and extended the scope of its application to new groups, bringing a number of new rights within the scope of constitutional protection. Overall, the reform aimed to increase the direct applicability of fundamental rights in courts of law, to tighten the conditions under which fundamental rights could be restricted, and to clarify the system of supervising fundamental rights by including basic relevant provisions in the Constitution. In addition, a comprehensive reform of the penal legislation was undertaken through the penal code of the government bill, which went into force on 1 January 1996.

The amendment of the rights provisions of the Constitution through the government bill extended rights to all persons within Finland's jurisdiction, the report states. Only the right to vote in parliamentary elections and the right to cross the State border were dependent on citizenship. The Constitution Act included a general prohibition against discrimination, which connected with those international human rights treaties to which Finland was bound, bringing fundamental Finnish rights closer to international human rights obligations. In general, the amendment strengthened respect for human rights in the Finnish legal system and extended the obligation to guarantee and monitor implementation of fundamental human rights to the international level. The Chancellor of Justice and the Parliamentary Ombudsman monitored implementation and the Constitutional Committee of Parliament examined compliance of government matters with international human rights treaties.

Among the rights strengthened by the new provisions were measures to protect the right to life and prohibit the death penalty, torture and degrading treatment, the report states. Safeguards to human rights included an act that introduced sanctions against rape in marriage. An article excluding non-denominational participation in debate on bills regarding Evangelic-Lutheran issues was repealed, and new provisions were introduced to safeguard the freedoms both of religion and conviction, including in regard to the right to be exempted from military national defence.

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Articles on freedom of expression were revised and a Freedom of the Press Act was amended to extend publishing rights to aliens, the report states. The right to freedom of assembly was extended, with new clarifications by judicial determination on distinctions between assemblies and demonstrations. An act on public meetings was amended to eliminate restrictions on aliens' right of assembly, and an overall reform of legislation on the rights of assembly and demonstration was under way at the Ministry of Justice. Amendments to the penal code and other acts contained new penal provisions for violations of political freedoms, including prevention of public meetings. A provision on the right to freedom of association was revised to eliminate restrictions on aliens' rights to that freedom.

Among measures under consideration within the Government Act was the possibility of extending the penalization of discrimination into the penal code, the report states. An additional provision concerning discrimination relating to work was also being considered, and a closer definition of discrimination had been proposed. The amendments would make discrimination punishable by law, and work-related discrimination would apply to the State and municipalities as employers. A new Act of Equality between Men and Women combated work-related discrimination, as did a provision of the Constitution Act stating that gender equality was to be promoted, especially with regard to remuneration and other employment conditions. The penal provisions on work- related discrimination were to be transferred to the general penal code. The Convention on the Rights of the Child entered into force for Finland in 1991 and the government bill proposed that a separate provision be added stipulating that children were to be treated equally and as individuals.

Other changes in the Constitution included an act affirming that non- military service would not be organized so as to discriminate on the basis of race, origin, language, religion, political and other views, or comparable reasons, the report states. A provision restricting the exercise of fundamental rights in time of war and rebellion was amended so that any derogation from the fundamental rights permitted under the public emergency article would be in line with Finland's international human rights obligations. In addition, a number of acts were adopted to decrease the possibilities of restricting the rights of an individual and to define the conditions for restriction more specifically, whether in regard to general security measures supporting defence of the State or to safeguard military and economic national defence.

As part of the comprehensive reform of the penal code, a proposal for a provision on the right to freedom of worship was prepared by the Ministry of Justice, as was one on the right to privacy, the report states. Both were expected to enter into force. An amendment replaced the former provisions on the inviolability of the home and the secrecy of postal, telegraph and telephone communications with a new article also protecting private life. Other provisions in the penal code made it a punishable offence to interfere

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with the right to freedom of organization, including with regard to employees' rights. Provisions in the penal code on slavery and the slave trade were subject to review, but a new provision on abduction applied to seizure of a person by force, threat or deception. Action was under way on a proposal to address the placing of a person in a degrading situation, forced labour, and the trafficking of persons under the age of 15 years. Another proposal was to continue considering abduction as an act constituting slave trade, which bound Finland to punish it under the terms of international treaties.

A number of articles in the Constitution were replaced by more detailed provisions regarding the right to life, liberty, integrity and security, the report states. Considerable changes were made to protect the rights of prisoners in arrest and remand, those undergoing military disciplinary punishment, conscientious objectors, the mentally ill, and aliens with regard to custody. While an alien could still be taken into custody by a policeman under certain conditions, there were now new criteria to be met and new guarantees, such as speedy action and the opportunity to communicate with family and representatives, including the Ombudsman for Aliens and the person receiving them in Finland.

The provisions on criminal procedure were also subject to reform, the report states. A proposed new act would contain key provisions on procedure, as well as on the right, to prosecute, on the public defender and on the payment of legal expenses. The revised legislation rested on the principle of oral hearing, which was immediate and centralized, as a way of conducting a speedy, reliable and inexpensive trial. Criminal proceedings under the new Act were expected to follow the accusatory procedure, which would facilitate defence. In cases where a criminal suspect was under 18 years of age, the public prosecutor would decide, as a matter of urgency, whether to bring charges, and all suspects, on request, would be assigned a public defender whose fees were paid from public funds, regardless of the suspect's financial situation.

Overall, Finland's prison population had continued to decrease, the report states. On 1 January 1994, the number of prisoners totalled 3,302, or approximately 65 prisoners per 100,000 inhabitants, with only 10 prisoners under the age of 18 years. Experiments with community service in place of conditional sentence to prison had expanded to the entire country, and a prison court had been instituted to manage the recidivist prison population with options for preventive detention. Basically, only those offenders could be held in preventive detention who had been sentenced for a serious act of violence more than once. At the beginning of 1994, there were 11 such offenders. They were held in regular prisons, and enforcement of their sentences did not differ from that of others. Only the most dangerous, who committed acts of violence in prison, were isolated from other prisoners against their will. A proposal to eliminate preventive detention altogether was under consideration.

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The report also addresses the status of special groups in Finland. In the Aaland islands, where the Swedish language and cultural identity was protected by a regional citizenship called hembygdsratt, a 1991 Autonomy Act enlarged and updated the division of legislative power and gave the province independent budgetary power. In the Sami homeland in Finland's north, important legislation for the 6,000 indigenous Finnish Samis included guaranteed access to the Sami language before authorities. A Sami Act was being prepared to turn forests within the Sami homeland into commons owned by Lapp villages. Other special groups included the Romanies, whose number equalled the Samis; a small Jewish community; a smaller Tartar population; and a Russian-speaking group whose number had recently risen from a small minority to over 20,000 due to immigration.

With regard to protection of other non-Finnish persons, the report states that a new Aliens Act took effect on 1 March 1991. It stipulated that rights of aliens in applying the Act would not be curtailed more than necessary. A new article of the Act broadened the circumstances under which residence permits were issued to aliens and gave alien residents the right to vote in local elections and local referendums. Amendments to the Constitution eliminated some constitutional restrictions on the right of aliens to enter public service.

The Aliens Act gave aliens unrestricted rights of residence and freedom of movement in Finland, the report states. Deportation was regulated and grounds for deportation specified, taking into consideration matters and circumstances affecting the case, including length of residence and bonds to Finland. Decisions on deportation were taken by the Ministry of the Interior on the recommendation of the police, and the alien, as well as Ombudsman for Aliens, was heard in every deportation case. Appeal was also open to the alien.

A decision on the deportation of an alien could include a prohibition against entering Finland for a maximum of five years or for an indefinite period. An alien could also be denied entry and removed from the country at borders by passport control officers when requirements for entry were not fulfilled. During 1993, 1,409 aliens were refused entry by passport control officers and 1,165 aliens were refused entry by the Office for Aliens Affairs; the aliens represented 86 different nationalities.

The report states that an agreement on the European economic space entered into force in 1994, and Finland's membership in the European Union became effective 1 January 1995. Those developments meant that, in the relevant fields, citizens of member States in either group would not be treated differently from Finnish citizens.

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List of Issues on Finland's Report

The Committee's list of issues submitted to the delegation of Finland, addresses discrimination and advocacy of racial hatred, the right to effective remedy, the status of the Covenant in the Province of Aaland, and the dissemination of information about the Covenant.

Other issues to be raised include equality of the sexes, violence against women and children, review of the penal law and procedure, preventive detention, liberty and security of the person, conditions of detention with regard to aliens and offenders, and the rights of persons belonging to minorities.

Introduction of Finland's Report

PEKKA HALLBERG, President of the Supreme Administrative Court of Finland, introduced his country's report. He said the reform of the Constitution of Finland had extended the protection of the fundamental rights to all persons within the country's jurisdiction, not just Finnish citizens. Economic, social and cultural rights were a part of the Constitution, and the direct applicability of fundamental rights had been increased. A coherent system of fundamental rights was included in one chapter of the Constitution, and special obligations were placed on public authorities to secure implementation of fundamental and internationally protected human rights, and there were supervising authorities.

The national system of fundamental rights completely met international human rights obligations, he said. The system strengthened the protection of international human rights at the national level. The Covenant had been the most important model in developing the principle of equality, which was an essential part of the legal system. The provision on the right to life and personal liberty, physical integrity and security of person corresponded to obligations under specific articles of the Covenant, as did the principle of the rule of law in criminal justice.

Other provisions in the Constitution that corresponded to articles in the Covenant addressed freedom of movement, protection of private life, freedom of religion and conscience, freedom of expression and publicity, and freedom of assembly and association, he said. Further, cultural rights had been gathered together, and they included the right to a cost-free primary education. The right to one's own language and culture, responsibility for the environment and its diversity, and the right to legal protection were also provided for by the Constitution.

The constitutional provision restricting derogation from fundamental rights in accordance with the Covenant deserved special attention, he said. Even under exceptional circumstances of threat to the nation, derogations from

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fundamental rights provisions were required to be temporary, necessary and in conformity with human rights obligations under international law.

The discussion of fundamental rights in Finland had brought the Constitution closer to the individual, he said. Fundamental rights provisions were increasingly applied in the courts, and a cognizance of fundamental rights played an important role in implementing obligations under international human rights conventions. Those were of great importance in the Finnish legal system, and the conventions were incorporated into national legislation so as to constitute an integral part of the legal order. The Covenant was, therefore, directly applicable before courts and other authorities, and individuals were empowered to directly invoke its provisions.

Response to List of Issues

PAIVI PIETARINEN, Legal Officer of the Foreign Ministry of Finland, said there had been a lot of discussion on the subjects of discrimination and racism in Finland. During the past few years, attitudes had become more negative to immigrants as their numbers had grown. The penal code in Finland prohibited discrimination, and a new penal code had entered into force in September 1995. Discrimination was punishable by law and discrimination in the work place had also been criminalized. A person committing an act of discrimination could be fined or imprisoned for a minimum of six months.

Cases of assault on the basis of xenophobia were rare in Finland, and comprised approximately 5 per cent of assault cases, she said. However, the police had been keeping records on assaults based of assault based on race for only one year. There was an effort under way to determine how police reporting of racist motives actually worked. The Government had established a working group in the Ministry of Justice to see if the punishment for racist crimes should be increased. It was possible that such an amendment would be submitted to Parliament as part of the total reform of the penal code in the next year. The Government had also taken steps to criminalize the advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constituted incitement to discrimination, hostility and violence.

VELI-PEKKA VILJANEN, Legislative Counsellor in the Ministry of Justice of Finland, said that domestic legal protections for alleged violations of rights under the Covenant were included in the constitutional provisions on legal assistance. They were guaranteed both by the Constitution and by act of Parliament, and such assistance was provided free of charge if necessary. The system provided an individual with the direct right to appeal on the basis of any international covenants to which Finland was a party. Furthermore, in the case of a claimant who brought charges and lost a case, the responsibility to bear costs was made equitable. For example, when a private individual lost a case on good grounds against a public authority, the court costs could be partly or wholly covered by public funds.

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He then turned to the status of the Covenant on the Aaland islands. In accordance with the principles on the autonomy of Aaland, the Covenant's position there fell under the jurisdiction of Finland's Constitution, which made it as applicable on Aaland as elsewhere in Finland. No instance was known in which the Covenant had been derogated from in Aaland.

Ms. PIETARINEN, Legal Officer of the Foreign Ministry of Finland, said that when human rights conventions entered into force in Finland, they were published in both official languages, Swedish and Finnish, and also in English. The texts of the six core human rights instruments had been published in booklet form and widely distributed. According the act on the right to use the Sami language, acts affecting the Sami people could be published in that language. All important United Nations human rights conventions had been translated into two of the three Sami languages. There was also databank that included information on international treaties, and access to it was available via the Internet. The Ministry of Justice had also established a databank on the Internet with information on international treaties, and the Foreign Ministry was considering the inclusion of information on human rights conventions on its website.

Finnish non-governmental organizations (NGOs) had already taken note of the Committee's consideration of the country's current report and had submitted their comments, she said. The delegation would inform the Finnish press about the Committee's consideration of the report and would also report on the Committee's conclusions and recommendations. During the two years since submission of the fourth periodic report, Finland had regularized the preparation of reports on human rights treaties, as well as the dissemination of information about that process. The views of NGOs and other members of civil society were solicited for their views before the Government submitted its report to the Committee.

IRMA ERTMAN, Deputy Director-General of the Foreign Ministry of Finland, said that equality of the sexes was a priority for her Government. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women was ratified by Finland without reservations in 1986. Finland had submitted three periodic reports on implementation of that Convention, the most recent in 1997. In August 1995, the Government decided to begin drafting a national programme for equality. Several ministries and authorities, as well as NGOs and labour organizations, were asked for their opinions on plans for implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action. The Government adopted its national programme for equality in 1997, and its principles followed the Beijing Platform, with emphasis on promoting the equality of men and women, protecting the girl child, and empowering women. A follow-up programme was currently being prepared.

A provision of the national programme prohibited gender discrimination in the workplace, she said. As a result of the amendment of the penal code,

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the provision on discrimination in workplace stated that discrimination on basis of gender was punishable under the law. That provision also applied to advertisements for jobs, the hiring of employees, promotions, and the termination of employment. Under the Equality Act, an annual plan for equality would be drawn up at all companies employing more than 30 people. Last week, the Office of the Equality Ombudsman published a study on the equality plans of employers in Finland.

The Government of Finland sought to promote equal pay for men and women, but it could only affect wage policies indirectly, she said. The State had been reforming its own wage system since 1992. The different government offices were asked to develop wage policies in order to introduce new systems that stressed the level of job difficulty, personal performance and results achieved. The new systems would also promote equal pay and greater fairness. When deciding on appointments, gender could not be a basis for a position. According to the quota provision of the Equality Act, women and men must comprise at least 40 per cent of all government committees, advisory committees and other bodies.

The Government had taken a tough stand on the prevention of violence to women and children, she went on to say. Instances of domestic violence were prosecuted even when they occurred in the privacy of the home -- although the charges could be dropped at the request of the victim. Violence against children was of particular legal concern. Education and social programmes to educate against domestic violence were being instituted, including those aimed at preventing the use of violence among men.

Many bodies were involved in the programmes to combat domestic violence, she said. They included the Ministry of Equality, which was instituting a new project to prevent domestic violence. There were approximately 30 or 40 homes and shelters in the country, which emphasized protection of children. The Ministry of Social Welfare and Health had undertaken studies to combat the problem on a large scale, and a study had shown that 2,500 cases of domestic violence were registered in a year.

With regard to the issues of trafficking in women, she said there had been wide discussion in Finland and in the European Union on the issue. Finland had established a working group to work with the European Union and with neighbouring countries. Prostitution was not criminalized, but solicitation was; proving such transactions, however, was difficult. Provisions on abduction had not been widely implemented in relation to the trafficking in women.

Questions by Experts

ECKART KLEIN, expert from Germany, said Finland was not a country where human rights violations were rampant, but it was not a paradise. On accession

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to the Covenant, Finland had expressed reservations to a number of articles. Would those reservations be removed? Also, the functions of Chancellor and Ombudsman seemed similar. What happened when they disagreed? Was there a mechanism to deal with such a situation? How did Finland deal with medical, scientific experimentation involving insane people? Was there a mechanism to protect them from being objects of medical experimentation? How was it ensured that children of stateless persons born in Finland would get a Finnish nationality?

He drew attention to the situation of corporations paying church tax to the Evangelic-Lutheran Church. Was that not discrimination against other churches or denominations? New provisions in the penal code were constantly being created to protect human rights, and it was natural that some articles of the Covenant needed protection by criminal law. Was it necessary, however, to protect human rights on that basis alone? Democratic societies should be able to deal with human rights by other means, and it seemed Finland was creating too many provisions that criminalized behaviours in the interest of protecting human rights. Was that an accurate perception?

Lord COLVILLE, expert from the United Kingdom, said the use of criminal law was not always the best method to deal with the problem of discrimination. Was there a viable procedure in civil law by which victims of discrimination could seek remedies? What could a person do if he was discriminated indirectly in seeking housing or other services? Was there a body with power to instigate civil proceedings when there was a pattern of discriminatory practices? If so, could it assist people who had been victims of discrimination by supplying advice or legal aid? If the dissemination of racist propaganda was a criminal offence, policy decisions must be taken to determine what types of cases would be prosecuted. How did the Ministry of Justice make such decisions? What must be allowed because of the dictates of freedom of expression?

MAXWELL YALDEN, expert from Canada, asked if the delegation had any statistics on the increase in racially motivated acts of violence in Finland. Was there additional information about the Russian minority, which had increased most during the past few years? What was the role of the Ombudsman's Office in cases of discrimination? How did the Ombudsman's Office relate to the courts? How frequently did Finnish nationals use the services of the various ombudsman offices? How many cases of discrimination had been pursued? How many employers have been prosecuted?

What were the wages of women and men in both the private and the public sector? he asked. To what extent did the State prosecute cases of discrimination against disabled people? What was the Government's contemporary practice with respect to the Swedish language? Was it the intention of the Finnish authorities to provide services in the Russian language? How did the Government's policies in the Aaland islands affect

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other Finnish citizens? Did they, in any way, limit the freedom of movement? How many people requested asylum in Finland? How many of those requests for asylum were granted?

ELIZABETH EVATT, expert from Australia, said she was pleased to see that racial hatred was a prosecutable offence. Were there other mechanisms to deal with and combat racial hatred?

There were other problems that came from institutionalized racism, she said. It was believed that Finnish police kept a ledger on the Romanies. How were such issues being addressed? Would the proposals mentioned help to relieve the costs of seeking remedies, as in the case where the Samis brought charges against the Forestry Department on behalf of their Covenant rights?

OMRAN EL-SHAFEI, expert from Egypt, said the only lacuna in the report was the absence of statistics in such areas as equality of sexes. While equality was legislated, it was not always carried out in practice, particularly with respect to remuneration and opportunities. There were similar situations regarding the protection of children and with respect to aliens. There were allegations of discrimination in public dwellings, and there was no specific mention of torture in the constitutional provisions. Would the delegation please address those issues?

RAJSOOMER LALLAH, expert from Mauritius, said Finland's Constitution states that no one shall, without acceptable grounds, be afforded a different status on account of such factors as sex, age, origin, language and religion. How had the Finnish courts interpreted the phase "acceptable grounds"? Had there been any recent cases in which a person was returned to the home country when trying to enter Finland? What were the grounds for restrictive orders given in immigration cases? How many people were admitted into Finland in comparison to those who were refused entry or given restrictive orders upon entry? Why did the Constitution refer to the right to belong or not belong to a religious community as the negative freedom of religion? States had an obligation to ensure that the weaker people in a sector of society that was the object of prejudice had an avenue to seek remedy and protection. When had the process of teaching the acceptance of all people begun in Finland?

NISUKE ANDO, expert from Japan, asked if Finland's penal code prevented all people from being placed in forced labour, a degrading situation, or from being trafficked, regardless of age. Were there any limitations placed on non-Finnish citizens in the fields of broadcasting or publishing? What was the outcome of the committee established to investigate regulations on human embryo research? Had the Finnish Government continued its advantageous discriminatory treatment of Jehovah's Witnesses, under its special act exempting that group from military service? Had the Covenant been fully incorporated into Finnish domestic law? Was it desirable to criminalize certain discriminatory acts in order to protect the human rights of others?

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FAUSTO POCAR, expert from Italy, said the constitutional provisions on the protection of children and on preventing discrimination addressed the most fundamental human rights. The report, however, was succinct on the question of children's protection. The previous report had mentioned age-related rights, listing them with great specificity. For example, the right to leave or join a religious community was stated to begin at 16 years of age, while the right to an education was stated to begin at seven years. How were such limitations reconciled with articles of the Covenant?

DAVID KRETZMER, expert from Israel, brought attention to the article stating that no one should be prevented from entering their own country. Aliens living in Finland considered it their country. What was the status of aliens residing legally in Finland? What happened with stateless aliens who lived in Finland? What would prevent them from being kept out or deported? On what grounds were lawful aliens in Finland subject to being deprived of the ability to live in their Finnish homeland?

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