I.General information
The reform of the Act on Equality expanded the duties and the mandate of the Ombudsman for Equality; now the mandate of the Office of the Ombudsman for Equality includes the supervision of equality planning in 5,000 to 6,000 workplaces and 1,000 educational institutions (CEDAW/C/FIN/6, para. 13). The report acknowledges that the current staffing situation is “not sufficient” for monitoring and implementing the Act on Equality (ibid.). Please provide information on the impact of those resource constraints on the effective monitoring and implementation of the Act, and on any plans in place to provide the Office of the Ombudsman for Equality with adequate human and financial resources to fulfil its expanded mandate.
According to the statement of the Ombudsman for Equality, despite the reform of the procedures of the Office of the Ombudsman, matters of discrimination can not be dealt with rapidly enough due to its insufficient human resources. Consequently, it may take longer to find solutions to disputes and prevent individuals from having effective access to their rights. The resources made available to the Ombudsman for Equality are not sufficient to give legal counselling to the clients after they have been given directions and advice or an opinion containing a judicial assessment. For example, the Ombudsman has not, in practice, during the period of time The Act on Equality between Women and Men (609/1986, hereafter Act on Equality) has been in force been able to provide assistance to persons in courts of law who presume that they have been victims of discrimination, which would, in certain cases, be the duty of the Ombudsman prescribed by law.
To the tasks of the Ombudsman for Equality also include monitoring the enforcement of the Act on Equality, especially the active promotion of equality. The provisions of the Act put the employers with a minimum of 30 employees and educational institutions under an obligation to draw up an annual equality plan. A charting out of salaries paid must be carried out as part of the equality planning in workplaces. According to the statement of the Ombudsman for Equality, the obligation to carry out equality planning applies to an estimated 5 000 to 6 000 employers and over 1 000 educational institutions. The implementation of the obligation to carry out equality planning, in particular the goals set for the substance would require wider and more systematic provision of information. Much more information about what the principle of equal pay for work of equal value would actually be needed by work places to back up their salary charting. According to Act on Equality, as part of the monitoring of the equality plans, the Ombudsman must provide employers and educational institutions concerned by the obligation with instructions and advice where needed. According to the statement of the Ombudsman for Equality, the Ombudsman has not sufficiently at all the resources to carry out this task.
According to the report, the Ministry of Justice set up a committee in January 2007 to reform Finnish legislation on non-discrimination, including the duties and competencies of the Ombudsman for Minorities and the Ombudsman for Equality (CEDAW/C/FIN/6, para. 12). While the report indicates that the Committee may require more time than anticipated to complete its work, please provide an update, if available, on the main issues considered for reform.
The committee preparing the reform submitted to the Ministry of Justice a preliminary report on the needs to reform the legislation on equality and non-discrimination including the relevant options. In the preliminary report some of the shortcomings of current legislation have been reviewed, addressing which discrimination would be prevented while improving the protection of equality more efficiently than today. In addition, the committee analysed various options for a basic legislative framework and for reforming the organisation of the public function in the domain without, however, taking a stand as to which option to adopt as a basis for the reform.
In the view of the committee, the work on the reform of the legislation on equality and non-discrimination must be pursued along the following guidelines:
The content of the legislation will be made more coherent, where appropriate and possible
Legal and linguistic aspects in the legislation will be improved
The ways to develop measures to promote equality and non-discrimination and to supervise and monitor the implementation of these measures will be examined
The ways to improve co-operation, participation and interaction in equality and non-discrimination issues both between the authorities and between the authorities and interest groups will be examined
The status, duties and powers of the designated authorities within the field will be re-examined with special regard to their opportunities to operate independently
The need, in the longer run, to develop the national system for the promotion and protection of fundamental and human rights as a whole in compliance with international obligations and recommendations, will be taken into consideration in the reform of the organisation of authorities
According to its mandate, the committee will draft its final proposal in the form of a Government Bill. Preparing of the proposal and a more detailed examination of the legislation on equality and non-discrimination related to it will start in the spring 2008 following the analysis of the feedback given for the preliminary report.
The committee also proposes that its term be prolonged until the end of September 2009. The summary of the preliminary report of the working group is enclosed (appendix 1).
The Ombudsman for Equality has brought up his concerns regarding, among others, the reform project might disregard the fact that the implementation of equality between women and men is not about ensuring the rights of a minority and that sufficient attention is not necessarily attached to the justified differencies existing in the Act on Equality and the Non-discrimination Act today. The Ombudsman also fears that the reform project will increase the duties of the authorities employed with no additional resources allocated to carrying them out.
The report notes that the working group on the Government Programme 2003-2007 to implement equality endeavoured to interact with the Policy Programmes of the Government in an effort to improve mainstreaming “but in this respect the results were poor” (ibid., para. 34). Please explain this assessment further. In particular, indicate the types of difficulties encountered in gender mainstreaming, and any lessons learned that might be reflected in the Government Programme 2007-2011.
Despite efforts, the gender mainstreaming performance of the previous Government’s policy programmes was unsatisfactory mainly due to lack of commitment at very beginning. The Civic Participation Policy Programme was the only programme of four that carried out a broad-based review on gender mainstreaming in the programme. The review was, however, carried out only after the preparations phase and it was commissioned from external researchers. Thus, it had little impact on the contents of the programme. Consequently, gender mainstreaming should be initiated already in the drafting phase by actors taking part in the programme.
According to the Programme of Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen’s second Cabinet, the Government undertakes as a whole to make determined efforts to promote equality in all its decision-making. The Government Programme states that the Government will take steps to ensure that the gender perspective is mainstreamed across all law drafting, budget procedures and other major projects right from the outset. The expression ”right from the outset” has been included in the Programme so as not to repeat previous mistakes. As the Government drew up the new Gender Equality Programme, it decided that gender perspective is mainstreamed in all the policy programmes.
II.Violence against women
The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights expressed concern about the lack of specific legislation concerning domestic violence (E/C.12/CO/FIN/5, para. 16). Please describe the follow-up steps taken in response to this recommendation and discuss any challenges to the introduction of relevant legal provisions.
A need for any specific legislation was examined in Finland in connection of the implementation of the National programme for the reduction of violence adopted by the Government on 14 December 2006. In the programme itwas proposed that possibilities to make such amendments to criminal legislation, that the repetitiveness and oppressivity characteristic of violence in close relationship could be better identified and recognised, when related to violence against women, should be examined. The report of this examination was completed at the end of 2007. According to the report, however, there is no need for such a legislative amendment. Characteristic of the Finnish criminal legislation is, that penal provisions are very general in nature, and, for example, the sex of a victim is not relevant as regards determination of punishment. In addition, including the repetition of offences as essential elements of an offence could also lead to problems of interpretation of the principle of ne bis in idem.
Furthermore, in the aforementioned report it was stated that in Finland, additional problems would result from arrangements in respect of one’s right to institute criminal proceedings since a number of petty offences covered by the provision, including petty assault and, principally, coercion, are complainant offences contrary to the state of affairs in many other countries.
The consideration of violence in a close relationship as grounds for increasing the severity of a punishment would deviate considerably from the existing grounds for increasing the severity of a punishment for aggravated assault. Classifying assault in close relationship as aggravated assaults would lead to a more severe punishments since the minimum punishment for aggravated assault is at least a year of imprisonment.
Both reports discuss the emphasis of the State party on prevention of violence against women. Please indicate whether the State party has developed a methodology for assessing the impact of preventive measures on the reduction of different forms of violence against women, and if so, please give an overview.
The Government Programme of the first Cabinet of Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen (2003-2007) made the commitment to make interfering with incidences of violence more effective. In accordance with the Government Programme, the Ministries drafted programmes for the reduction of violence. The reduction of close relationship violence was included in all of these programmes.
On 23 September 2004, the Government adopted an internal security programme entitled Arjen turvaa (Security for every day) as a decision of principle (Ministry of the Interior, Publications, no. 44/2004). This cross-administrative programme focuses, along the lines of the Government Programme, on increasing security among the citizens taking into consideration, in particular, the categories of crimes specifically mentioned in the Government Programme such as crime connected drugs, violence and recidivism. One of the goals of the Programme was to implement the policy of the Government aiming at developing and maintaining public services by increasing cross-administrative cooperation with a view to governing vast and complicated entities more effectively. The Ministry of the Interior was in charge of the coordination of the Programme.
The essential contents of the Programme for internal security were extended during the second term of the Programme to cover the reduction of violence, especially violence in close relationships. The preparation of the Programme has not yet been completed, but one of the central themes consists in the reduction of violence against women.
In conjunction with the implementation of the first programme of internal security, an initiative was made to develop a violence indication system with a view to being better equipped to monitor the development of internal security and the effect of the measures taken in the framework of the programmes. The ministerial group on internal security made the decision to launch regular studies concerning the victims (incl. the national victim study, juvenile delinquency survey, female victim study, study of children and young people victims of violence, study of victims of attempted offences) and improve statistics by authorities (for instance, data systems of the police, prosecutors, hospitals and the social services) so that more information will be provided on victims and the amount of violence than today. As far as the social services are concerned, the matter has been attended to in conjunction of the IT initiative of the sector of the social services and health care. The data surveying violence, attached to the customer data system, have been defined, and such systems have been piloted in two cities.
One of the problems faced in the prevention of close relationship and domestic violence has been the fact that the activities connected to it have been disparate and uncoordinated. So far, work for the reduction of violence has been done, first and foremost, resting on different initiatives and projects. The National Council for Crime Prevention set up a department for violence to improve the coordination, with representatives from all relevant Ministries as regards the reduction of violence. The Council for Crime Prevention is an organ of cooperation consisting of experts, which works under the Ministry of Justice, in charge of planning and implementing measures designed to prevent crime. A Ministerial group has been set up with the task of reducing close relationship and domestic violence more effectively. This group is composed of the Ministers of Justice, the Interior, Health and Social Services, Foreign Affairs and the Minister in charge of matters pertaining to equality. In addition to the Ministerial group, a network of public officials from these Ministries has been created for this purpose.
On 14 December 2006, the Government adopted a decision of principle for setting up a National Programme for the reduction of violence that will continue until the end of 2008. In October 2007, the National Council for Crime Prevention under the Ministry of Justice collected data from the Ministries concerning the progress of the measures written down in the Programme for the reduction of violence, and a report on the measures will be submitted to the Government at the end of the Programme. As an example could be mentioned the study made for the assessment of “Lyömätön linja”, a project aiming at the reduction of intimate partner violence by men and the referral of violent men to rehabilitation in 2006. (National Research Institute of Legal Studies, Series of Publications no. 68.)
The National Action Programme to Implement Equality of the Government (2004-2007) and the Goal and Action Programme of Social Affairs and Health care (2004-2007) focused attention to the reduction of violence against women. The police department of the Ministry of the Interior drafted an Action Programme of its own for the prevention and reduction of violence (report 10/2005). The recommendations of the report focused particularly on the improvement of the qualitative aspect of the basic activities of the police in their work done for the prevention of violence.
Within the Action Programme to Prevent Intimate Partner and Domestic Violence, launched by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health for 2004–2007, local approaches have been created and a contact person for intimate partner and domestic violence has been appointed in nearly every municipality/economic region. Recommendations on how to prevent intimate partner and domestic violence will be drawn up for the municipalities’ aid. The realisation of the recommendations will be reviewed nationally during 2011.
According to the report, reporting of incidents of domestic violence and violence in a partner relationship to the police has increased (CEDAW/C/FIN/6, para. 64). The report also acknowledges that there are vast regions without shelters for victims of violence (ibid. para. 68). What steps have been taken to respond to the increased reporting and to ensure that all women have access to the services they may need, including shelters, crisis centres and other support services? Please indicate in particular the number of shelters available per 10,000 persons of the population. Please also discuss the financing of shelters.
Finnish shelter home services still have lackings. According to the recommendation of the EU, there should be one vacancy in a shelter home per 10 000 inhabitants. Following the recommendations, Finland should have around 500 shelters instead of the existing 120. However, there are a lot of sparsely populated areas, and it is not reasonable to establish shelters in these areas: Eastern and Northern Finland as well as Northern Ostrobothnia are the regions with the least vacancies. The northernmost shelter home is situated in Rovaniemi, Lapland.
One of the objectives of the Action Programme to Prevent Intimate Partner and Domestic Violence was to improve the number of refuges especially in sparsely populated areas. For example in the entire Province of Lapland there is only one shelter. No new shelter has been established since the area is sparsely populated and distances are long. However, new refuges were created in the area.
Each municipality or economic region has designated certain places as refuges for women and children threatened by violence. In cases of emergency, the 24 hours social services refer persons in need of shelter to the municipality’s designated refuge. The type of the refuges varies across municipalities. In recent years there have been efforts to improve the organisation of emergency services. Nearly everywhere across the country, there is a social worker on call 24 hours and during weekends. Outpatient services specifically designed for battered women are not comprehensively available. NGOs play a significant role in organising such outpatient services. The services are mainly financed by municipalities. In case of NGO activities, funding is also provided by Finland’s Slot Machine Association.
Please provide information on the number of cases of women seeking asylum on grounds of gender-based persecution and the outcomes of such cases since 2000.
Police authorities are attending to Internal Security Program, involving especially prevention of domestic violence. Police pursues to prevent increasing domestic violence by co-operating with other authorities. The main task is to develop early stages manoeuvres. Police focuses especially different key-players on this field. Those who are injured parties are guided to competent authorities and so-called third sectors ministrations. This is one way to prevent injured parties of becoming victims again. Police is actively influencing municipalities to develop safety plans including prevention methods against domestic violence. Police administration follows closely how safety plans of municipalities are going ahead.
III.Trafficking and exploitation of prostitution
According to the report (CEDAW/C/FIN/6, para. 106), the penal code was recently amended to criminalize the buying of sexual services “only from victims of pandering or trafficking in human beings, a fact that has proven to be difficult to prove in practice”. The report acknowledges that a number of women ’ s associations have expressed concern about the difficulty of punishing buyers of sex under the new law. In the light of the comments of those organizations, please provide further details about the content of the law, as well as an assessment of the law ’ s implementation to date.
Section 8 (743/2006) of Chapter 20 of the Penal Code (39/1889) concerning the exploitation of a person victim of sex trade entered into force on 1 October 2006. According to the Section, a person who, by promising or giving remuneration, engages a person victim of a crime referred to in Section 9 or 9a or in Section 3 or 3a of Chapter 25 to have sexual intercourse or a comparable sexual act shall be sentenced to a fine or imprisonment for a maximum of six months. The aforementioned Sections apply to offences of pandering or trafficking in human beings. A person buying sexual services from a person younger than 18 years of age shall only be sentenced for the more severely punishable offence of buying of sexual services from a young person as provided to be punishable in Section 8a (743/2006) of Chapter 20 of the Penal Code.
According to the information received from the Ministry of the Interior, by the end of September 2007, 17 reports have been filed concerning the offence in question or an attempt regarding which decisions have been issued. The following decisions were issued:
a summary penal order has been delivered in one case,
8 cases have been referred to the prosecutor
8 cases have been closed due to the insignificance of the offence
Based on information available concerning court proceedings, charges have been dismissed in one of the cases regarding the offence.
When prescribing the new penal provision it was considered that incidents of exploitation of a person victim of sex trade appears mainly in connection with the investigation into offences of pandering and trafficking of human beings. Therefore, the numbers of the latter crimes may have a relation to the number of offences of exploitation. According to the information received from the Police, there has been a considerable decrease in the number of reports filed for pandering offences in recent years. Charges have been brought for trafficking in human beings (non-aggravated and aggravated) in two cases so far. In addition, four reports for human trafficking have been filed which have not lead to charges under these crime definitions.
It has been discussed in public that there are problems relating to proof as concerns the exploitation of a person victim of sex trade as far as the requirement of intent is concerned with regard to pandering or trafficking. As a matter of fact, this is not unexpected. The question emerged when prescribing of the penal provision on the exploitation of a person victim of sex trade. The Government proposed to the Parliament that the buying of sexual services be made generally punishable, that is, not only in connection with pandering or trafficking in human beings. However, the Parliament arrived at its final legislative solution owing to considerations relating to the principle of rule of law and some basic and human rights and because the general provision proposed by the Government was targeted especially against the crime of pandering and trafficking in human beings.
In this context it is also important to bear in mind that the effectiveness of criminal legislation cannot be evaluated through application procedure only. The penal provision in question may have a restraining influence on the buying of sexual services, and also in cases other than those in which the seller is a victim of pandering or trafficking. What is more, the penal provision was expected to render Finland a less attractive target to persons exercising pandering and human trafficking. Such possible positive results that cannot be measured or proven in any way.
When prescribing the penal provision, the Legal Affairs Committee of the Parliament required that a report should be submitted on the effectiveness of the provision within three years after its entry into force. In the same connection any needs for amending the legislation may be considered.
The report mentions one judgement concerning the offence of trafficking in human beings (CEDAW/C/FIN/6, para. 115). Please provide other data and statistics on the extent of trafficking in women into, through and from Finland , as may be available. This information should include documented trends over the past four years concerning the number of victims rescued and assistance provided to them.
Statistics asked are not available from the Police results data system based on the sex. Enclosed statistics show the numbers concerning crimes of human trafficking per authority during the years 2004-2007 (Please see appendix 2).
The Special Rapporteur on the human rights aspects of the victims of trafficking in persons, especially women and children noted in her report, that despite the provisions in law which enabled prosecution of child sex tourists outside of the Finish territories, “it is often a problem in practice to obtain evidence from local police and investigative authorities in jurisdictions where the offences occurred” (E/CN.4/2006/62, para. 94). Please provide information on the extent of child sex tourism by Finnish nationals and what measures are being taken to remedy this problem, including the need to change the sexual behaviour of the adult male.
This question concerns the information on the extent of child sex tourism by Finnish nationals. These cases are rare, but every case will be closely investigated. There aren’t any statistical analyses in Finland concerning this phenomenon.
IV.Participation in political and public life
Both reports discuss progress made in women ’ s representation in political and public life. The sixth periodic report (CEDAW/C/FIN/6, article 10, subsection 4) discusses women ’ s participation in voluntary national defence. Please indicate whether women participate in peacekeeping operations of the United Nations, including as civilian and police personnel.
The Defence Forces keep data on the participation of women in peacekeeping missions led by the United Nations and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. All women who have participated have been engaged in military tasks. The Defence Forces have no information on Police participation in these tasks. Below are is data on the numbers of women and men in the years 2004 - 2006.
2004 women 43 men 1076 proportion of women 3.8 per cent
2005 women 20 men 651 proportion of women 3.0 per cent
2006 women 32 men 902 proportion of women 3.4 per cent
This question concerns the statistics concerning females attending United Nation’s peacekeeping operations. Finnish police officers have been trained in special training courses for international civilian crisis operations since 1994. Training, as well as qualification requirements are the same for both male and female officers. On 16 organized courses there have been totally 326 police officers, 39 (approximately 12 per cent) of them female officers.
In different European Union police operations and missions have been totally 247 persons: 222 males and 25 (10.1per cent) females. In summary, Finnish police officer has been in these tasks 352 times. Of those 352 times female officers have been involved 35 times (9.9 per cent), due the fact that part of the personnel have been involved twice or more in different tasks.
At the present moment in United Nations operations there are 21 Finns, 5 of 21 are females (23.8 per cent).
At the present moment in 9 international civilian crisis operations there are 39 Finns, 7 of 39 are females (17.9 per cent).
To join international civilian crisis basic training is based on volunteered basis as well as to sign in for the operation itself. International organizations and EU are requiring the same qualifications for female and male persons. This is the fact also regarding required police duty experience.
If amount of Finnish police officers in international civilian crisis operations is increasing, amount of female police officers will increase as well.
Total number of personnel employed by the Finnish police force was 11007 in the year 2007. The proportion of women was 26 per cent.
The number of police officers, not including police students, was 7753 in 2007. The proportion of women was 11.65 per cent.
PoliceSchool has 1500 to 2000 applicants (basic training) every year and about 30 per cent of them are women. About 20 per cent of new students are women.
According to the fifth periodic report (CEDAW/C/FIN/5, article 4, subsection 1 ), the Committee studying the reform of the Act on Equality proposed that the 40 per cent quota provision be extended to also apply to municipal bodies. Please explain why the 40 per cent quota contained in the subsequently revised Act on Equality between Women and Men did not apply to municipal councils (see CEDAW/C/FIN/6, para. 52).
Municipal councils are formed by free elections, and this is how they differ from bodies to which the quota provision applies. In Finnish legislation, quota provisions do not exist in respect of political elections. Before the quota provision was included in the Act on Equality in 1995, the share of women in decision-making bodies had not grown has favourably as in political bodies put up by elections.
As a result of the measures contained in the National Action Plan to Implement Equality, the number of women on the boards of State-owned or partly State-owned companies increased to an average of 40 per cent. Please explain if the relevant provisions of the National Action Plan applied to the number of women on boards in privately held companies as well, and if not, whether there are any plans under way to extend similar provisions to publicly traded companies.
The measures of the Government Action Plan for Gender Equality to increase the number of women board directors were primarily targeted at fully or partially state-owned enterprises. In private enterprises the steering measures have been more indirect: communication, improving of good practices and statistics, promotion of women’s careers as well as awareness raising for example with the help of projects and media campaigns.
In state-owned enterprises, the Government has direct influence on decision-making. Indeed, the increase in the number of women board directors in state-owned enterprises is a result of a clear strategic decision and a programme leading to target-oriented recruiting of women. Also Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen’s second Cabinet will continue to encourage both state-owned enterprises and private companies towards more positive development in the boards of directors in terms of gender equality. This should be achieved by better communication, improvement of good practices and statistics, enhancement of women’s careers as well as awareness raising. The Government will also continue the programme to maintain a balanced ratio of women and men in the boards of state-owned companies and associated companies. The present Government will not prepare legislation on gender quotas in public limited companies.
V.Employment and reconciliation of work and family life
According to Finland ’ s fifth periodic report, the majority of working women and men considered that workplaces did not encourage men sufficiently to use childcare leave (CEDAW/C/FIN/5, article 3, subsection 3 ) and that only about 2 per cent of fathers used parental leave (ibid., article 5, subsection 6.1 ). What have been the results achieved thus far of measures taken to promote the use of parental leave, such as the Family Leave Package which came into force in 2003 (HE/147/2002), campaigns and awareness-raising events? Please provide information about the results of the research conducted by the Social Insurance Institution, specifically trends regarding fathers ’ use of paternal leave since 2003.
The use of paternity leave has increased. 69 per cent of the fathers received paternity allowance in 2005. However, still less than 10 per cent of fathers make use of parental allowance to stay at home with their infants for even a short period. Excluding the parental leave period included in the extended paternal leave, fathers make use of less than four per cent of parental leave days.
The purpose of social policy is to enable parents to share the responsibility for looking after children and the home. Mothers generally make full use of the parental leave entitlement, even though it would under present arrangements be possible to share this with fathers. According to a recent review by the Finnish Social Insurance Institution, the reason for this is that mothers prefer to use the whole parental leave entitlement themselves, or that fathers consider that mothers are better suited to look after children. Financial factors seem to be the most common obstacle to fathers taking parental leave. Fathers generally think that their domestic finances will suffer if they stay at home, though the tax benefits they receive when on parental leave suggest otherwise.
Renewed legislation on parental leave took effect at the beginning of 2007. Its objective is to encourage fathers to take a more active role in rearing their small children. The reform adjusted the parental leave allowance payable to mothers and fathers, increased maternity leave allowance and made the schedule of paternity leave more flexible. At this stage it is too early to say how these amendments will affect the use of parental leaves.
The Act on the amendment of Chapter 4 (533/2006) of the Employment Contracts Act entered into force on 1 August 2006. The amendments improved the right of adoptive parents (adoptive father or mother) to take child-care leave, the right of a parent not living in the same household with his or her child to take temporary child-care leave and the right of a parent of a child with disability or chronically ill child to take partial child-care leave. In the case of the latter, the right has been extended until the child turns 18.
The report notes that fixed-term employment contracts are common and that the majority of such contracts are held by women (CEDAW/C/FIN/6, para. 162). According to the report (ibid., para. 169), a fixed-term employment relationship typically is not renewed when the employee declares she is pregnant, despite the prohibition of discrimination on the grounds of pregnancy and family obligations contained in the Act on Equality (15.4.2005/232). In 2005, the Ombudsman for Equality submitted a proposition to the Ministry of Labour that the Employment Contracts Act be amended so that it would explicitly prohibit the non-renewal of fixed-term employment relationships and the limitation of their duration on account of pregnancy or the taking of family leave (CEDAW/C/FIN/6, para. 172). What measures have been taken to increase employers ’ awareness of the prohibition of discrimination contained in the Act on Equality and what steps have been taken in response to the recommendation of the Ombudsman for Equality?
In March 2005, the Ministry of Labour nominated a person to compile a report the frequency of fixed-term employment, the legality of its use and any legislative need related to it. The report was submitted to the Minister of Labour in December 2005. It stated that in Finland, the number of fixed-term employment relationships is high, higher than the average of EU member states. Fixed-term employment is common in the public sector. Over one fifth of wage earners work for municipalities or the State as fixed- term, whereas in the private sector the corresponding share is about 10 per cent. Even if legislation has become stricter and trade unions have given legal instructions, they have not lead to the reduction of fixed-term employment as was intended. According to the report, one of the basic problems in Finnish working life is that employers use fixed-term work force to take care of permanent work. Employment relationships stringed up together and work organised into projects provide examples of this. The practices of favouring fixed-term employment relationships without proper justification have made way to a gap in the realisation of basic security, the principle of non-discrimination and the gender equality contained in the employment legislation, in particular as concerns security in the event of pregnancy. In the report it was considered that in the private sector, fixed-term and hired employees have become a trend indicator especially in IT and electronics. The use of hired employees is a means of evading both the employees’ protection against dismissal and the terms set for fixed-term employment by the law. Based on the report, the Ministry of Labour set up a tripartite working group to analyse ways of reducing the number of fixed-term employment relationships based on no proper justification. With this work as a starting point, legislation was proposed to be amended. The Government Programme of the second Cabinet of Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen that started its work in the spring 2007 stated that the Government would implement the propositions of the working group on fixed-term employment relationships in an accelerated timeframe. The amendments took effect on 1 January 2008.
Monitoring was made more effective to reduce the number of unjustified fixed-term employment contracts. Section 11 of Chapter 13 of the Employment Contracts Act was amended by providing for a penal provision (1333/2007) emphasizing the employers’ obligation to give an account of the central terms of an employment relationship. The Act on the Supervision of Labour Protection and Related Cooperation at the Workplace was also amended. The amendments aim at making employers consider more thoroughly the justifications for fixed-term contracts and make them known also to the employee. According to the Employment Contracts Act, as for a contract made out for a period exceeding one month, the employer must give the employee a written account of the terms of the employment relationship concerning items not agreed upon by a written contract. Justification for making a contract fixed-term is one of the terms that should be included. New obligations binding on the employer were not laid down by the Act. Instead, the breach of the obligation already in force to give an account was made punishable.
The importance of giving an account of the essential terms of an employment relationship was also emphasized by the amendment of the Act on the Supervision of Labour Protection. If an employee does not receive such an account from his or her employer, a labour protection inspector may urge him to give it. The option of having recourse to this procedure enables both authorities and the employee in question to find out about the justification for the fixed-term nature of the contract.
Currently, no great changes have taken place in the share of fixed-term relationships as compared with the totality of employment relationships. Slightly over 14 per cent of all wage earners are fixed term (slightly more than 13 per cent of men, almost 21 per cent of women). As considered by sectors, there are differences. In the private sector, the share is about 10 per cent, in the municipal sector about 23 per cent and in the sector of the State about 24 per cent. The following factors bring light to why women stand for a considerably bigger share:
In the municipal sector - partly due to the high percentage of women working outside the home - there are a lot of women who work for health care, social affairs and education. When they take parental leave, they are replaced by women because men are rarely available for these positions.
In the sector of the State, the number of fixed-term employment relationships is generally accounted for by the fact that universities employ over half of those in fixed-term employment relationships of the State. The positions have often been defined as projects due their financing.
In March 2007, the Ministry of Labour set up a tripartite working group to examine specifically issues relating to the work done by hired employees. The task of the working group was to consider work done by hiring workforce as a whole by taking into account the status of the hired employee, the operations of the hiring companies, the needs of companies using the services of hired workforce, the availability of workforce and the challenges posed to the well-functioning of the labour market. The working group completed its work in November 2007. It came up with ten proposals designed to improve the status of hired employees. Part of the proposals was made to amend the legislation, part of them to pursue the examination. The preparative work for the implementation of the proposals in under way.
According to the statistics of the Ministry of Labour there were about 100 000 persons who had worked as hired employees and 18 300 companies that had hired workforce in 2006. The share of those having worked as hired employees was about 4.1 per cent of the total of the people who had had jobs. The average duration of the employment relationships had been 82 days. According to the Association of companies in the personnel service sector, the employment impact of hired work represented about 23 000 person-workyears in 2006. The majority of hired employees are under 35 years of age. According to the report made by the EU in 2005 on hired employees, the share of female hired workforce was 55 per cent.
According to the sixth periodic report, the amended Act on Equality mandates employers with more than 30 employees to draw up an annual equality plan (CEDAW/C/FIN/6, paras. 9, 10 and 156). What percentage of employers falling into this category has submitted plans according to the Act? Please elaborate on the implementation of that measure and any preliminary results achieved in the areas of equal pay for work of equal levels of requirement.
When the Parliament approved the revised Gender Equality Act in spring 2006, it provided that the Government monitors carefully the implementation of the Act and submits the Employment and Equality Committee of the Parliament a report by the end of 2009 on the drafting, contents and effects of equality planning as well as on the access to pay information. The preparations for the report have been initiated by the Gender Equality Unit at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. At this stage it is still difficult to assess the number of equality plans and the related pay reports.
According to the Government Programme of Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen’s second Cabinet the Government will issue a report to Parliament on gender equality during the electoral period. In connection with the review and report, the purpose is also to collect data on the implementation of the obligation to carry out equality planning.
The majority of the employers falling into the category of having to draw up an equality plan have completed on, the situation varies, however, according to sector in the labour market to some extent. According to the declaration of employers, 70 per cent of employers in the private sector have drawn up an equality plan, 84 per cent in the sector of the State and over 90 per cent of employers in the municipal sector. The figures rendered by the surveys that employee organisations had completed by their local union representatives were somewhat lower. All equality plans do not contain a salary charting required by the Act on Equality. This implies that as far as such plans are concerned, a lot remains to be improved from the qualitative point of view to make them meet the goals set by legislation. The majority of the equality plans were drawn up so recently that it is not yet possible to consider their effects.
Please indicate whether any measures are being taken to increase women ’ s opportunities to achieve key management positions, and the impact of such measures.
According to the Government Programme of Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen’s second Cabinet, the Government will systematically advance women’s careers and promotion to managerial positions both in the public and private sectors. The Government will appoint a working group to propose more detailed measures to increase the number of women in public-sector decision-making. Attention will be paid to the production of statistics needed for the development work, and the regular production of statistics on women leadership and women’s careers will be initiated. An extensive economic report inspired a lot of interest in Finland and the EU in autumn 2007 as it stated that companies with both male and female leaders and board directors make more profit than other companies. Indeed, in 2007 there were indications that companies more frequently choose women in top management positions.
In addition, the Defence Forces’ Equality Plan prohibits discrimination based on gender in selections relating to work, missions or training. The Plan also encourages the favouring of applicants belonging to a minority when there are several applicants of equal qualifications, and according to possibility, increasing the proportion of women in leading tasks. Information concerning the Equality Plan is distributed in connection with personnel training and via information on the Defence Forces’ intranet. The proportion of women in leading tasks will increase as they reach higher military ranks. At present, the first female officers are captains.
According to the report (CEDAW/C/FIN/6, para. 152), women “earn about 20 per cent less than men in all the employment sectors of the labour market”. In addition, 10.4 per cent of all cases received by the Ombudsman for Equality concern discrimination related to salaries (ibid. para. 155). How does the State party anticipate that it will achieve its goal of reducing the pay gap by 5 points by 2015?
Narrowing the pay gap between men and women by at least five percentage units by the year 2015 is a challenging objective that requires a lot of work. In order to reach the goal, each round of collective agreements should introduce solutions that bridge the pay gap.
The Government and the social partners are implementing a tripartite equal pay programme. The Government is activating the social partners to take into account the goal of narrowing the pay gap when negotiating pay agreements.The Government has no direct means to affect private-sector pay development, while in the state and municipal sectors the selection of tools is wider. The Government has for example reserved resources in the Budget for bridging the pay gap in the female dominated branches in the municipal sector.
As concrete measures taken could be mentioned, that, as a general rule, job-specific performance assessments have been carried out in the State sector to establish a basis for salaries. Also, in 2008, the Government increased State subsidies allocated to social affairs and health care by 150 M euros in support the wage settlement in the municipal sector. The settlement concerns more women than men due to the fact that the sector is predominantly female, and as regards its level, it is higher, for instance, than some of the industrial sectors.
In its previous concluding comments, the Committee expressed concern about the high level of sexual harassment in the workplace. According to the current report (CEDAW/C/FIN/6, para. 47), “one young woman out of two had reported having experienced sexual harassment by men during the previous two years”, as reported in the Gender Barometer published by Statistics Finland . Please indicate what measures are in place to protect female workers from sexual harassment, including specific legislation and effective mechanisms to receive and investigate complaints from victims.
The Act on Equality (609/1986) prohibits sexual and gender-based harassment, and it is regarded as discrimination (Section 7, 232/2005). The action of an employer shall be deemed to constitute discrimination prohibited in the Act if upon receiving information that an employee has been a victim of harassment, the employer neglects to take the steps available to eliminate the harassment (Section 8d, 232/2005). Harassment and other inappropriate behaviour is also prohibited under the Occupational Safety Act. Occupational safety authorities are in charge of monitoring the observance of the Act. They provide employers with instructions and advice and may take coercive measures under the Occupational supervision Act where needed. Harassment may also constitute work discrimination prohibited by the Penal Code, and the most aggravated forms of harassment may in themselves constitute acts prohibited by the Penal Code.
The trade unions have, in common, adopted procedural instructions for instances of harassment. In many workplaces, instructions for the prevention and dealing with instances of harassment have also been adopted.
In addition, the Defence Forces’ Equality Plan prohibits sexual harassment. In 2006, the Defence Forces have drawn up instructions concerning the handling of harassment and inappropriate treatment in workplaces belonging to the Defence Forces. Information concerning the Equality Plan is distributed in connection with personnel training and via information on the Defence Forces’ intranet. Workplace climate surveys inquire about experiences of sexual harassment. If such occurrences are reported, the workplace leadership is responsible for resolving the issue.
According to Section 8d of the Gender Equality Act, revised in 2005, the action of an employer must be deemed to constitute discrimination prohibited under the Gender Equality Act if, upon receiving information that an employee has been a victim of sexual or other gender-based harassment in the workplace the employer neglects to take the steps available to eliminate the harassment. The employer must safeguard that an employee is not subjected to sexual or other gender-based harassment at the workplace.
The employer can caution the perpetrator or give a warning or rearrange the perpetrator’s work tasks or place of work so as to ensure minimum contact with the harassment victim. In serious cases the employer may have to rearrange the work of both the employees so as to stop the harassment, but must not weaken the position of the harassment victim. As a last resort the employer may terminate the employment relationship with the perpetrator in accordance with relevant legislation.
If the harassment involves an intentional violation of bodily integrity, the provisions on assault and sex offences or work discrimination in the Penal Code may also apply.
Under Section 6a of the Gender Equality Act, the equality plan must include an assessment of the gender equality situation in the workplace as well as necessary measures planned for the promotion of gender quality. Such measures include the prevention and elimination of harassment.
The Occupational Safety and Health Act (23.8.2002/738) includes two specific provisions concerning harassment or other kind of inappropriate treatment at work.
The scope of these provisions is broader than sexual harassment only. They deal with all types of inappropriate treatment that may occur in the workplaces. The harassment based on gender is, however, one essential part of these provisions.
The intention of these two-fold provisions is on the one hand to oblige the employer to take measures to avoid the risk of harassment in advance and to interfere in situations where harassment have already occurred.According to Section 28 of the Act the risk to the employee’s health triggers this obligation, after the employer has become aware of the matter.
On the other hand the employees are, according to Section 18, obliged to avoid harassment and other inappropriate treatment of the other employees in the workplace.
The Occupational Safety and Health Inspectorates are responsible for controlling the compliance of the Act in the workplaces. The authorities have in their disposal several kinds of administrative measures, if they notice breaches of the Occupational Safety and Health Act in the workplaces. These measures are defined in the Act on Occupational Safety and Health Enforcement (20.1.2006/44). The authorities can also report the breaches of law to the prosecutor.
VI.Education and stereotypes
The Council of Ethics in Advertising has adopted principles on equality, and the Consumer Ombudsman handles complaints against “discriminatory marketing” and can interfere when advertising infringes on equality (CEDAW/C/FIN/5, article 5, subsection 5 ). A Finnish organization, NYTKIS ry (Naisjärjestöt yhteistyössä – Kvinno-oorganisationer i Samarbete – the Coalition of Finnish Women ’ s Associations for Joint Action), considers the self-regulation of the media inadequate in that “public opinion has become more permissive of commercial sex, and sexism is part of the contents of many media” (CEDAW/C/FIN/6, para. 98). As the Act on Equality between Women and Men does not apply to commercial advertising, what rules or codes of conduct, and what mechanisms, if any, are in place to monitor and regulate the media with the aim of eliminating gender stereotypes?
The Government has no effective means to control the media and therefore it aims at influencing the media through cooperation and interaction. The Ministry of Education implemented a project on media and gender equality in 2005–2006 reviewing the opportunities to promote, in cooperation with the media sector, a balance in images of gender as well as an absence of stereotypes in the media in accordance with the principle of self-regulation.
According to the general clause of Section 1:1 of Chapter 2 of the current Consumer Protection Act (389/1978), a conduct that is inappropriate or otherwise unfair from the point of view of consumers shall not be allowed in marketing. In Finland, a Consumer Ombudsman monitors the legality of marketing from the perspective of consumer protection. Where needed, the Ombudsman may apply for a decision prohibiting unlawful marketing. Such a prohibition may be issued by the Market Court, usually under penalty of a fine. In some exceptional cases, the Ombudsman may also deliver a prohibition on his own initiative. A prohibition may also be temporary. The Ombudsman has also provided entrepreneurs with a great number of general instructions concerning marketing.
A great deal of case law has already been established concerning the general clause of the Consumer Protection Act. According to the established case-law of the Market Court as a first instance court, the general clause is applicable to marketing that is clearly in conflict with generally accepted values. For instance, marketing that presents one of the sexes in a debasing, undermining or degrading light or in any other offending manner has been considered contrary to good manners. In judgments 1994:7 and 2006:1 of the Market Court, the marketing was regarded as being contrary, as refers to section 1 of chapter 2 of the Consumer Protection Act, to good manners in a case where a woman had been presented in an advertisement as a sexual object attracting the eye, her presence having had nothing to do with the products marketed. This is the kind of advertising that the Market Court considers degrading.
Section 23 of the Act on Television and Radio Operations (744/1998) provides also for the ethical principles of advertising. According to the Section, television and radio advertising or teleshopping spots shall not prejudice respect for human dignity nor include any discrimination on grounds of sex. The Consumer Ombudsman also monitors the observance of these provisions. The operator running television or radio operations may be ordered a sanction in the form of a payment on the proposition of the Ombudsman.
The aforementioned indicates that the monitoring of advertising is strongly managed by the authorities. Furthermore, the Finnish advertisement monitoring system also contains an aspect of self-regulation. The Council of Ethics in Advertising under the Central Chamber of Commerce makes statements on the ethic acceptability of advertisements. In its practice, it applies, among others, to the international rules of procedure on advertising adopted by the International Central Chamber of Commerce as well as the principles of good marketing practices of the Council.
Another body of self-regulation of the media, the Council of Press, (Julkisen sanan neuvosto) co-founded by the media, has confirmed the "Instructions for a Journalist" (”Journalistin ohjeet”) (2005) for the responsible use of the freedom of expression applicable to all journalistic work in the media. According to item 26 of the Instructions:
"[t]he human dignity of everyone must be respected. ... The sex of a person ... must not be presented in an inappropriate or degrading manner".
At the Ministry of Justice, a law proposition is under preparation at the moment in view of reviewing the general clause contained in section 1 of chapter 2 of the Consumer Protection Act mentioned above. It is proposed that more detailed provisions be included in the Act that would define the aspects that make an advertisement infringe the principle of good manners (Ministry of Justice, working group report 2007:11, on inappropriate commercial procedures). The provisions proposed are based on the established decision procedure of the Market Court and the provisions of section 23 of the Act on Television and Radio Operations (744/1998).According to the proposal for a proposition, marketing would be regarded as contrary to good manners if it were clearly in conflict with the generally accepted values of society. The intention is to include three examples of going against good manners. One of them concerns gender based discrimination or discrimination based on aspects of a persons or a group of persons. A Government Bill is intended to be submitted to the Parliament in the spring 2008 on the matter.
The proposed, more detailed provisions be likely to increase anticipation and legal security, and facilitate the monitoring of the provisions while making it more effective. The authorities in charge of the monitoring are expected to update their instructions on marketing and provide entrepreneurs with advice concerning the application of the new provisions. Moreover, it has been anticipated that the number of the cases brought before the Market Court might increase.
VII.Health
The Committee on the Rights of the Child, in its concluding observations of October 2005, expressed concern about the high suicide rate among adolescents (CRC/C/15/Add.272, para. 36). In the current report, information on suicide rates among adolescents is not provided. Information on psychological services is also not included. Please provide gender-disaggregated statistics on trends regarding the rates of suicide since 2001 as well as information on the steps being taken to reduce such rates and increase access to information and psychological services.
In April 2007, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health appointed a working group (Mieli 2009) to produce operating models for the regional organisation of mental health services, services for alcohol and drug abusers as well as the related 24-hour services. The objectives include effective promotion of wellbeing and mental health, access to treatment, services and rehabilitation in cases of mental problems and alcohol and drug abuse as well as cooperation between municipal primary and specialised services, various service providers and occupational groups.
In November 2007, the Ministry also launched a project designed to prevent depression and reduce depression-induced work incapacity. The project should draw up an action programme with proposals for the promotion of early detection and prevention of depression, treatment, rehabilitation, wellbeing at work and return to work as well as for reducing the incidence of depression-induced incapacity for work. Both the above-mentioned projects aim at preventing depression and therefore also suicides.
The Government Resolution on securing the future of health care issued in 2002 paid particular attention to well-functioning primary health care and prevention, access to treatment, securing the availability and competence of staff, reforming activities and structures as well as to the reinforcing of health care funding. The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health has closely monitored the realisation of access to treatment since 2005 when the provisions on the maximum waiting times for access to treatment entered into force. The maximum waiting times apply also to psychiatric care.
The Ministry has noticed that access to treatment across the country is more flexible and timely across than before the reform. In effect, the legislative revision has increased equal access to health services.The reform has also speeded up the modernisation of practices in different hospital districts.
The Parliament has in eight consecutive years increased the resources for child and youth psychiatry. Maximum waiting times for access to child and youth psychiatry entered into force on 1 January 2001. Recent results indicate that the implementation of access to child and youth psychiatric care within three months has been rather successful across the country except in the southern and southwest Finland.
Please see also the appendix 3 and 4.
According to the fifth periodic report (CEDAW/C/FIN/5, article 5, subsection 2.4 ), the distance from the Sámi homeland to a hospital maternity ward may be between 300 and 500 kilometres. Please describe any plans to increase accessibility to such facilities in communities located in the remotest parts of the country.
Patient safety necessitates that childbirth in Northern Finland is centralised in Rovaniemi.Northern Finland is a sparsely populated area and the number of childbirths is in decline. In order to ensure patient safety, childbirths take place in hospitals with the necessary multiprofessional staff, i.e. gynaecologist, anaesthetist, midwife, pediatrist, etc.Moreover, hospitals have the necessary equipment. In a sparsely populated country, it is unfortunately impossible to have the staff or equipment patient safety requires across the country. Reliable patient safety would require around 300 births per year. In the Sámi region of Northern Finland the annual number of births has been 70 in Inari and around 10 in Utsjoki in recent years.
Border municipality agreements with Norway enable emergency care and childbirth even in Norwegian hospitals. For example municipalities in the Sámi region as well as the Hospital District of Lapland have entered such agreements.
VIII.Situation of particular groups of women
The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights expressed its concern that “Roma women wearing traditional costumes are particularly vulnerable to such discrimi nation” (E/C.12/CO/FIN/5, para. 13). The current report also acknowledges that Roma women still encounter discrimination in the labour market and in access to services in the private sector (CEDAW/C/FIN/6, para. 16). Please provide information on the impact of the study on the employment situation of the Roma people conducted by the Ministry of Labour in terms of adoption of new policies and other measures.
The Ministry of Labour has provided funding for the study "Promotion of the integration of the Roma in the labour market". The report of the study is due to be published in May 2008. The situation of the Roma in the labour market as well as obstacles to and conditions for being employed are examined in the study. Such factors include, among others, education or the special needs of the Roma and taking them into consideration. An important subject matter of the study is composed of the attitudes, especially those of employers, the employment authorities and the Roma themselves towards the two aspects of employment: becoming employed and providing employment. The role of the work administration and the well-functioning of the provision of services are also analysed in the study when it comes to the promotion of the employment of the Roma. Ultimately, the intention is to come up with an overall appreciation and the drafting of a promotional proposal based on it.
The study of the on the employment situation of the Roma people is still on process. According to the unofficial preliminary information the study is carrying out voluntary questionnaire to the Roma customers in Labour offices. One of the questions asks both Roma women’s and men’s own attitude towards the dress code in working life. The study will also provide questionnaire made to the employers asking their attitudes towards the Roma in labour market and Roma women wearing traditional customs. The study is supposed to be ready by the end of April 2008.
In 2007 ended three large EQUAL- projects targeted to Roma in Finland. Along other results, the projects provided valuable information of the present day situation of the Roma in working life.
According to the four Regional Advisory Boards on Romani Affairs, the Roma women have been active to take part in measures in order to educate themselves. The Roma women who took part in the projects pointed out repeatedly that the clothing is not an obstacle for them to work. The Roma are aware that certain occupations require particular dress code or uniform (such as nursing, etc.). The Roma working in those kinds of jobs have accepted that and change their clothing during the working hours. However, there are number of jobs where the there is no justifiable grounds to deny traditional clothing. However, the Roma women’s traditional clothing remains as an obstacle on the eyes of employees. Both the public authorities and labour unions should pay more attention to the matter and support Roma women in critical situations.
The Finnish media have written about the Roma targeted Equal-projects nationwide, both in local and national newspapers. The articles very often dealt with women’s clothing and rose up awareness of Roma women’s clothing in a positive way. The Finnish National Broadcasting Company YLE has also trained Roma journalists in their internal training system. One of the journalists is a Roma woman wearing traditional dress and she has frequently anchored programmes in nationwide broadcasts.
The report notes that the Office of the Ombudsman for Minorities received 70 cases in 2005 relating to housing problems of Roma women, which often involved homelessness or evictions of single mothers and their children. The report notes the link between the circumstances of Roma women (i.e., housing and stability of living conditions) and the attendance of school by Roma children (CEDAW/C/FIN/6, para. 17). Has the Ombudsman investigated these complaints, and what have been the outcomes of these cases? What efforts is the State party contemplating to improve the housing situation of Roma women so that problems related to housing do not prevent Roma children from attending school?
The housing problems mentioned in question 25 do not relate only to Roma women, but to Roma people in general.
The office of the Ombudsman for Minorities has given advice and guidelines in relation to the complaints made. It has also requested clarifications from municipalities and housing agencies. In two cases the matter has been brought to the National Discrimination Tribunal. Furthermore, the office of the Ombudsman for Minorities has been working in cooperation with the Advisory Board for Roma Issues and the State’s Housing Fund in order to find solutions to the housing problems of the Roma community.
All the Finnish Advisory Boards both in national and regional level have worked actively in order to ease up the problems relating to Roma’s housing and schooling. They have particularly recognized the link between the lack of housing/difficult housing conditions and problems in schooling of Roma children. One important measure has been education targeted to authorities in different levels in administration. For example the Southern Finland’s Advisory Board alone has reached approximately 3000 municipal, regional and state administrators dealing with housing and schooling of the Roma.
The Advisory Boards have also helped in establishing local Romani boards within the municipal structures. The idea is that there are both Roma and local administrators cooperate in particular situation in particular place. Municipal councils have assigned most of these local boards providing also political back up to these local working groups. There are already 14 local boards in Western Finland; in Southern Finland 9 boards are on the process and few also in remaining three provinces.
Other measures conducted by advisory boards have been visits to municipals when needed and personal assistance and counselling both to the Roma and authorities when needed. The advisory boards of course cooperate with other state authorities. The cooperation between the Ombudsman’s offices on Minorities has been extremely important. However, the actual working capacities of the advisory boards are only four secretaries all together in provinces and one secretary in state level.
The national Advisory Board on Romani Affairs and four Regional Advisory Bodies are based on national legislation and financed by ordinary state budget.
According to the report (CEDAW/C/FIN/6, para. 176), the unemployment rate of immigrant women was more than 10 percentage points higher than that of immigrant men and significantly higher than that of the general population. What targeted measures have been undertaken to create and enhance economic opportunities for immigrant women, and what has been the impact of these measures? In addition to language classes, what training opportunities are available to non-citizen women in different sectors of the economy?
The rate of unemployment of immigrant women was still higher than that of immigrant men in 2007. The rate of unemployment has, however, decreased among men and women since 2006.
October 2006October 2007
Rate of unemployment: women28.3 per cent25.2 per cent
Rate of unemployment: men18.9 per cent 15.8 per cent
The rate of unemployment of immigrants varies a great deal between different ethnic groups. The Russians compose the biggest linguistic group with the unemployment rate of 30.5 per cent in October 2007. The corresponding rate for the speakers of the Somali language was 54.2 per cent. The unemployment rate of immigrant from EU countries was considerably lower than of those having immigrated from outside the EU.
Finland has an integration system exceptional in comparison with that of many other countries. According to the Integration Act (1999, 2006) the labour administration is in charge of organising the teaching of reading and writing skills to adult immigrants as well as arranging for their basic education. Therefore, all immigrants- regardless of their physical or psychological state, linguistic or professions skills- are entitled to sign up at the employment office and be accounted for as employed job seekers in statistics.
The development programme of the European Social Fund entitled "the first guiding steps of immigrants and development of skills" is intended to focus special attention the situation immigrant women find themselves in. In 2007, the United Nations Development Fund for Women and Zonta Women launched a specific campaign in cooperation with the National Board of Education aiming at raising funds for organising training in reading and writing intended for immigrant women. The Board of Education has, in other ways, too, during several years, funded basic education for women out of the budget of special subsidies for immigrant education. Subsidies have been granted to both adult educational institutions and immigrant associations. Also, a big part of the special subsidies dedicated to free general education are made available for the purpose of developing schooling for immigrants, not only in basic education and language teaching but also in the teaching of cultural and skills-related subject matters.
According to the statistics compiled by the National Board of Education, 70 per cent of the immigrants having sought equivalence for their university diplomas were women in 2007. The majority of them came from the area of the former Soviet Union. This indicates that some of the women are very highly educated, in need of support in having access to complementary schooling and finding employment.
As regards the aforementioned, it must be noted that unemployed immigrant women are not uniform as a group. Instead, the individual needs of all of them should have to be accounted for as far as provision of services is concerned.
Integration services and the possibility to have access to linguistic and professional training as well as training orienting the learner towards access to society apply to all immigrants. Everybody has the automatic right to schooling provided he or she has at least a permanent residence permit.
According to the Integration Act, unemployed immigrants are entitled to an integration plan (which, in turn, includes integration training) during three years from the time that the immigrant is registered in a municipality. The Act was amended in 2005 in a way that the period of three years can be extended to a maximum of five years, for instance, because of maternity leave, which often has precluded immigrant women from benefiting from the plan.
Immigrant women - as well as men - are provided with integration training. In addition to language training, the integration training consists of instructions for working life in Finland and Finnish society in general. The training includes a training period at a work place. Immigrants also have an opportunity to take part in labour market vocational training. Those taking part in either the integration training or labour market vocational training have the right to a welfare benefit, which is a little higher than the unemployment fee.
Immigrant women are also encouraged to the labour market through different projects, funded for instance by the European Social Fund.
The report does not contain any disaggregated statistical data on women living in poverty. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights expressed its concern that Finland is yet to adopt an official “poverty line” which would enable the State party to “define the incidence and depth of poverty and to monitor and evaluate progress in alleviating poverty” (E/C.12/CO/FIN/5, para. 17). Please provide an overview of the situation of women living in poverty in Finland and indicate what steps have been taken to develop a mechanism for measuring and monitoring it closely, as well as for reducing it.
The statistics on social assistance is the most comprehensive data on Finnish households living on a low income or in poverty. The latest data is from 2005.
In 2005, 8.7 per cent of single women received social assistance at least once. There were 66,286 such households. The number had decreased by 3.8 per cent from the previous year. 45.4 per cent of the recipient single-female households were paid social assistance for at least three months in 2005, while 22.6 per cent were receiving social assistance on a long-term basis (i.e. for 10 to 12 months). The share of single women receiving social assistance was slightly higher their population share. The share of pensioners in receipt of social assistance has been smaller than their population share. In effect, majority of the single women receiving social assistance are of working age.
Nearly all of the single parents receiving social assistance were women. In 2005 nearly 30,000 single-parent households, i.e. around one fourth of all single-parent households, were receiving social assistance.
The total number of households in receipt of social assistance has decreased since 1996. The same applies to the number and share of single households and single-parent households.
The length of the social assistance period indicates a long-term or occasional shortage of income. A higher than average proportion of single women (45.4 per cent) and single parents (44.9 per cent) has needed social assistance less frequently than all recipient households on average (42.5 per cent received social assistance for 1‑3 months). Single men and couples with children ran the highest risk of receiving social assistance on a long-term basis, while the risk was lowest for single parents.
Unemployment was the most common factor contributing to income difficulties. In summer 2007 the Government appointed a commission to prepare a social protection reform, the key goal of which is to increase flexibility in working life, offer more incentives for work as well as revise the levels of basic and minimum security so as to decrease the need for social assistance. The commission mandate lasts until 31 December 2009. In April 2002, a revision of the Social Assistance Act entered into force with regard to a share of income not considered when the need for social assistance is assessed. In the initial phase, this share of income was at most EUR 100 per month per household. Later on, it has been raised to EUR 150 per month. This revision is in force until 31 December 2008. The revision was targeted especially at single-parent households in receipt of social assistance since a higher than average share of single parents have been offered different kinds of jobs and thus they have had the possibility to earn some extra money and even enter the labour market permanently.
Please see also the appendix 5 and 6.
Although the first Report on the Policy C oncerning the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to the Parliament, submitted in 2006, recognized that “a woman with disability has the right to study, work, have an income, family life and hobbies”, it was acknowledged that “very little information exists on women with disabilities” (CEDAW/C/FIN/6, paras. 27 and 28) and that women with disabilities faced discrimination in terms of applications for disability support and rehabilitation services being rejected more often than those of men (ibid., paras. 186 and 187). Please provide information on any measures developed or undertaken to systematically collect information on women with disabilities and to ensure their enjoyment of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights. Also, please provide information whether there are efforts to publicize the new Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and whether government funding is provided to organizations and networks of women with disabilities to support their activities.
The basic principle in Finnish legislation and in the monitoring of its application is the equal treatment of women and men and their equal right to the supportive measures and benefits laid down in the law.Therefore, neither do the majority of the studies on disability and information on people with disabilities analyse the data by gender. For instance, it has not been considered necessary to develop specific indicators for compiling statistics on the supportive measures and benefits granted on the basis of disability with a view to pointing out reasons for differences between the genders.
Some statistics available, e.g. the rehabilitation and disability benefit statistics of the Social Insurance Institution indicate that the percentage of rejected applications is somewhat higher in regard to women compared to men.A similar trend is identifiable even in regard to the decisions on disability pensions.One cannot draw the conclusion from that, however, that it would be question of direct discrimination against women, but also the fact that the number of women’s applications for the said benefits is higher is of significance here. The granting of benefits is based on the criteria laid down in the law.
An unofficial Finnish translation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities will be published in the Treaty Series of the Statute Book of Finland once the Convention has been ratified by Finland.In 2007 the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health published a brochure in Finnish and Swedish dealing with the Convention. The Center for Human Rights for Persons with Disabilities (VIKE) established by Finnish disability organisations has also provided education and information material on the Convention.
The women’s network of disability NGOs consists of actors of the national disability organisations.Those receive funding from the Finnish Slot Machine Association and, through that, also financial support from the Government.Once registered the network would also be able to receive government grant allocated to women’s organisations.
IX.Optional Protocol
Please provide information about the measures taken to make widely known the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, which Finland ratified on 29 December 2000.
Information on human rights in general, human rights conventions of the United Nations and the Council of Europe as well as on their judicial and other control organs and human rights complaints are available at the Internet site of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs (http://formin.finland.fi). The site provides also instructions about how to lodge a complaint with those organs, including the CEDAW Committee. The Unit for Human Rights Courts and Conventions maintains the contents of the site. The Internet site has a link to the legislative data bank (Finlex) where the Finnish version of the Optional Protocol to the CEDAW is available.
X. A ppendi xes
Appendix 1
The summary of the preliminary Report on the needs to reform the legislation on equ ality and non-discrimination
I B ackground to the reform of the equality and non-discrimination legislation
There are severe deficiencies in achieving equality and non-discrimination. Furthermore, the legislation on equality and non-discrimination has been amended at several different times over the course of the years, which has made the legislation diffuse and incoherent. The differences in the various grounds of discrimination in the legislation cannot in all respects be justified. When the Non-Discrimination Act was enacted, the Finnish Parliament provided that the government drafts a proposal for non-discrimination legislation, which is founded on the Finnish system of fundamental rights and in which the same legal remedies and sanctions are applied to all discrimination grounds. The legislation needs to be revised also as a response to the international development and the development within the European Union.
In accordance with its assignment, the Equality Committee has drawn up an interim report on the extent of the need to reform the current legislation and options for reform. The purpose of the interim report is not to take a position on the different options, but to stimulate debate about them.
II T he current state of the equality and non-discrimination legislation
The Constitution of Finland includes a number of provisions that are relevant to equality and non‑discrimination. Section 6 of the Constitution contains the fundamental provision on non-discrimination. The provision is based on international human rights conventions. However, since the fundamental rights reform was carried out in Finland, the scope of the international law concerning equality and non-discrimination has been extended. Over the past years also the EU anti-discrimination legislation has been extended and made more precise. In addition, the case law of the European Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights and the decisions, evaluations and recommendations of international human rights bodies must be taken into consideration in the reform.
In the legislation subordinate to the Constitution, the provisions on equal treatment and prohibition of discrimination are included in two general laws, i.e. the Act on Equality Between Women and Men (Equality Act) and the Non-Discrimination Act, and in several special laws concerning, for instance, employment, social welfare and health care. Provisions on the authorities and sanctions are included in the above mentioned general laws and in the special laws concerning the authorities, the Penal Code of Finland, the Tort Liability Act and the Act on Occupational Safety and Health Enforcement and Cooperation on Occupational Safety and Health at Workplaces.
III E quality and non-discrimination legislation in certain other countries
Most European countries have reformed or planned to reform their equality and non-discrimination legislation. Examples of such countries are Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany and the United Kingdom. As in Finland, the legislation, as well as the organisation of authorities established to promote and monitor it, is diffuse in many of these countries. Even if the scope of the reform varies from one country to another, the goal of the reform is the same; to harmonise the legislation and the organisation of authorities.
IV T he need for and the goals of reform of the equality and non-discrimination legislation
(a) The need for reform
There are many deficiencies in the current equality and non-discrimination legislation and in its enforcement. Correcting these deficiencies would improve the opportunities to combat discrimination and safeguard equality. The most important development needs are listed below.
The coherence and the scope of the legislation. The concepts and other terminology used in the legislation are to some extent inconsistent. Some discrimination grounds, which are considered important in modern society, are not mentioned in the legislation. There are differences in the scope of the prohibition of discrimination, the extent of the legal protection and the access to counselling services and other expert assistance depending on the ground of discrimination and the area of life.
Promotion of equality and non-discrimination. The legislation relies a great deal on subsequent legal protection and the reactions of individuals. The duties to promote equality imposed on the authority are different depending on the ground of discrimination. At present Finland does not have a designated body responsible for planning information activities and education in non-discrimination issues, organising the education or monitoring this kind of activity.
The status, duties and powers of the designated authorities. The duties of the equality and non-discrimination authorities are not completely in line with the international recommendations and statements, but mainly they seem to comply with the requirements set out in the EU-legislation. An exception to this is to some extent the duties relating to conducting independent surveys and providing assistance to victims of discrimination. With regard to EU law, the convention on the rights of persons with disabilities and international recommendations there also seems to be a need to strengthen the independence of the national bodies. In addition, there are other aspects in the duties and the powers of the current authorities that need to be developed to make their operation more effective.
Co-operation and interaction in equality and non-discrimination issues. At present the co-operation between the authorities is informal. With the exception of the Ombudsman for Minorities, no special duty to co-operate has been imposed on the authorities and they do not have an official organisation for such co-operation. The co‑operation between the authorities and the interest groups is also mainly based on informal communication. In addition to this, different advisory boards have been established in connection with the Ministries. However, the relevance of these boards in the communication varies. EU law, international conventions and recommendations as well as the increased international co-operation require that the national procedures and structures are reorganised.
Participation of associations and organisations in the administrative and judicial procedures. The current legislation gives associations and organisations only limited possibilities to make use of the administrative and judicial procedures in discrimination cases.This question should be considered with regard to EU law.
Enforcement of the legislation. Counselling and other expert assistance concerning the legislation improve the legal protection of the victims of discrimination. Today this kind of operation is concentrated on a national level and there are no such services on a regional or local level. Also the lack or resources for advisory and supervisory bodies makes it difficult to enforce the legislation.
The legal and linguistic clarity of the legislation. The incoherence and the multi-level nature of the legislation, as well as the technical deficiencies, reduce the clarity of the current legislation. There are also some terminological and linguistic questions, such as difficult and abstract concepts, legal terms and too broad expressions, which need to be considered.
(b) The goals of the reform
Improvement of the coherence of the content of the legislation. In the reform the content of the legislation should, where appropriate and possible, be made more coherent. Examples of contents that should be made more coherent are the prohibitions of discrimination and their scope of application, the scope of the duty to promote equality and the access to legal protection. The goal should be that victims of discrimination as far as possible are treated in the same way regardless of the ground for discrimination and area of life.
Improvement of the promotion and supervision of equality and non-discrimination. In the reform the possibilities to develop the obligations to promote equality relating to different grounds of discrimination should be examined. The examination should be carried out bearing in mind the special characteristics of the current legislation and that neither the present supervision and promotion obligations nor the powers relating to them can be restricted. The status, duties and powers of the Ombudsman for Equality and the Ombudsman for Minorities should be re-examined and their resources and opportunities to operate on a regional and local level should be evaluated.
Improvement of co-operation, interaction and participation in equality and non-discrimination issues. In the reform the possibilities to improve the opportunities of the interest groups to participate in the handling of equality and non-discrimination matters should be examined. It should also be examined how the co-operation between authorities and between the authorities and the interest groups could be developed.
Improvement of the clarity as well as legal and linguistic aspects of the legislation. In the reform the current legislation should be made clearer and the language used in the legislation made more intelligible and precise.
V O ptions for reform
The systematic and the structure of the equality and non-discrimination legislation as well as the organisation of authorities could be developed on the basis of several different models. The basic structure of the legislation and the organisation of authorities could also be reformed separately. The Committee has discussed the following main options for reform:
The basic structure of the legislation: one or several general laws?
Decentralised regulation. This model would include making the provisions in the current Equality Act and Non-Discrimination Act more coherent and adoption of a new act on non-discrimination authorities as well as certain new special laws or provisions, for instance, on person with disabilities and Roma people. This model is in line with current international law and EU-legislation. The differences in the grounds of discrimination and the distinctions in the legislation due to this appear to favour this model.
A new non-discrimination act and two special acts. In this model all general provisions on equality and non-discrimination would be consolidated in one combined act whereas the provisions on the achievement of equality between women and men and of other equality would be included in separate special acts. The provisions on general equality issues and the authorities would thereby be included in the same act.
One common law. In this model the Equality Act and the Non-Discrimination Act would be combined to form one general act, including also the provisions on the authorities. To the extent the content of the current provisions can be made more coherent, the legislation could be made clearer by combining them to form one act.Furthermore, combining the acts would promote a more uniform and comprehensive view on discrimination issues and also facilitate the handling of cases of multiple and intersectional discrimination.
The organisation of authorities: one or several authorities?
Development of the organisation of authorities on the basis of the current organisation. The status, duties and powers of the current equality and non-discrimination authorities would be re-examined. Also new anti‑discrimination bodies would be established or the powers of the current authorities would be extended. The authorities would have the same expertise and visibility as they have today and they would still operate under the ministry responsible for the sphere of authority in question. However, the organisation would still be diffuse and the synergies offered by joining authorities together could not be exploited. Operation under the ministries would limit the independence of the authorities.
Establishment of a combined organisation of authorities under the Government. The current authorities would be combined to form a new institution of non-discrimination ombudsman, which would handle also totally new grounds of discrimination. In addition to this, an advisory board and a Tribunal for discrimination issues could be established. Expertise on different fields could be guaranteed for example by appointing specialised ombudsmen within the institution. This combined ombudsman institution would be the contact point in all equality and non-discrimination issues. The exchange of information and co-operation of the actors in the field would be easier and establishment of one combined authority would also bring benefits relating to expertise, operation and administration. The new authority would operate under a ministry, which would limit its independence.
Establishment of a combined authority under the Parliament. A similar institution of non-discrimination ombudsman as described above would be placed under the Parliament instead of the Government, which would guarantee the independence required in international recommendations. The ombudsman would work in close co‑operation especially with the Parliamentary Ombudsman of Finland, whose work its operation would complement. The communication with other actors, such as the ministries and organisations, could take place through an advisory board. The authority would carry out its operation independently and work more freely in co‑operation with e.g. various organisations and research institutes. Finland would still have a need for a broad-based expert body, with the duty to handle all kinds of issues relating to fundamental rights.
Development of the organisation of authorities in relation to the reform of monitoring of fundamental and human rights
EU law, international human rights conventions as well as international recommendations and statements enable the establishment of special non-discrimination authorities in connection with general bodies responsible for the promotion and protection of human rights. In many international recommendations and statements this is even recommended. There are also national grounds which favour an investigation, in the longer run, of the possibility to reform the national system for the promotion and protection of fundamental and human rights as a whole. The Constitutional Law Committee of the Parliament of Finland has supported the idea of the establishment of a national human rights institution. The possibilities for such a reform should be investigated in more detail, for instance in a broad-based preparatory organ or as a part of a national plan of action for the promotion and protection of human rights. The general development needs in the Finnish system for fundamental and human rights will, where possible, be taken into consideration already in the reform of the organisation of authorities in the equality and non-discrimination legislation.
VI C onclusions and proposals
In accordance with the assignment of the Committee, the reform is to be carried out so that it does not weaken the protection given under the current legislation nor restrict the duties or powers to follow, monitor and promote equality and non-discrimination laid down in the acts. Instead, these should be strengthened through the reform. The Committee considers, that the work to reform the equality and non-discrimination legislation should be continued in accordance with the following guidelines:
The content of the legislation will be made more coherent, where appropriate and possible.
Legal and linguistic aspects in the legislation will be improved.
The ways to develop measures to promote equality and non-discrimination and to supervise and monitor the implementation of these measures will be examined.
The ways to improve co-operation, participation and interaction in equality and non-discrimination issues both between the authorities and between the authorities and interest groups will be examined.
The status, duties and powers of the designated authorities within the field will be re-examined with special regard to their opportunities to operate independently.
The need, in the longer run, to develop the national system for the promotion and protection of fundamental and human rights as a whole in compliance with international obligations and recommendations, will be taken into consideration in the reform of the organisation of authorities.
Furthermore, the Committee proposes the following:
Representatives for the Confederation of Finnish Industries and the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions should be nominated to the Committee and a section dealing with equality and non‑discrimination issues in working life should be established to assist the Committee in its work.
In connection with the Committee should be established an NGO-section, which would comment the committee’s legal proposals and other proposals.
The mandate of the Committee should be extended until end of September 2009.
Appendix 2
C rimes of human trafficking (2004-2007)
T a ble 1: Facilitation of unauthorised entry (source: Police results data system)
|
Provence of Southern-Finland |
Provence of Western-Finland |
Provence of Eastern-Finland |
Provence of Oulu |
Provence of Lapland |
Provence of Helsinki |
Åland Islands |
Foreign countries |
TOTAL |
||
|
2004 |
Police |
13 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
4 |
7 |
0 |
3 |
28 |
|
Customs |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
Border Guard |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
TOTAL |
13 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
4 |
7 |
0 |
3 |
28 |
|
|
2005 |
Police |
9 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
10 |
0 |
0 |
22 |
|
Customs |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
Border Guard |
11 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
12 |
|
|
TOTAL |
20 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
10 |
0 |
0 |
34 |
|
|
2006 |
Police |
3 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
6 |
0 |
1 |
13 |
|
Customs |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
Border Guard |
17 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
27 |
|
|
TOTAL |
20 |
3 |
0 |
2 |
5 |
9 |
0 |
1 |
40 |
|
|
2007 |
Police |
2 |
5 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
13 |
|
Customs |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
Border Guard |
32 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
1 |
5 |
47 |
|
|
TOTAL |
34 |
7 |
0 |
3 |
3 |
5 |
2 |
6 |
60 |
|
|
Total 2004-2007 |
Police |
27 |
7 |
2 |
5 |
5 |
24 |
1 |
5 |
76 |
|
Customs |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
Border Guard |
60 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
7 |
7 |
1 |
5 |
86 |
|
|
TOTAL |
87 |
11 |
3 |
6 |
12 |
31 |
2 |
10 |
162 |
T able 2: Aggravated facilitation of unauthorised entry (source: Police results data system)
|
Provence of Southern-Finland |
Provence of Western-Finland |
Provence of Eastern-Finland |
Provence of Oulu |
Provence of Lapland |
Provence of Helsinki |
Åland Islands |
Foreign countries |
TOTAL |
||
|
2004 |
Police |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Customs |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
Border Guard |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
TOTAL |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
2005 |
Police |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
|
Customs |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
Border Guard |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
|
|
TOTAL |
6 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
9 |
|
|
2006 |
Police |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
|
Customs |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
Border Guard |
24 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
29 |
|
|
TOTAL |
25 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
31 |
|
|
2007 |
Police |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
|
Customs |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
Border Guard |
8 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
9 |
|
|
TOTAL |
8 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
11 |
|
|
Total 2004-2007 |
Police |
4 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
9 |
|
Customs |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
Border Guard |
35 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
0 |
1 |
42 |
|
|
TOTAL |
39 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
9 |
0 |
1 |
51 |
T able 3: Human Trafficking (source: Police results data system)
|
Provence of Southern-Finland |
Provence of Western-Finland |
Provence of Eastern-Finland |
Provence of Oulu |
Provence of Lapland |
Provence of Helsinki |
Åland Islands |
Foreign countries |
TOTAL |
||
|
2004 |
Police |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Customs |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
Border Guard |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
TOTAL |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
2005 |
Police |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
|
Customs |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
Border Guard |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
TOTAL |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
|
|
2006 |
Police |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
|
Customs |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
Border Guard |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
TOTAL |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
|
|
2007 |
Police |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
Customs |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
Border Guard |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
|
TOTAL |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
|
|
Total 2004-2007 |
Police |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
|
Customs |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
Border Guard |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
|
TOTAL |
3 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
T able 4: Aggravated human trafficking (source: Police results data system)
|
Provence of Southern-Finland |
Provence of Western-Finland |
Provence of Eastern-Finland |
Provence of Oulu |
Provence of Lapland |
Provence of Helsinki |
Åland Islands |
Foreign countries |
TOTAL |
||
|
2004 |
Police |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Customs |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
Border Guard |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
TOTAL |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
2005 |
Police |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Customs |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
Border Guard |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
TOTAL |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
2006 |
Police |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
Customs |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
Border Guard |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
|
TOTAL |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
|
|
2007 |
Police |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Customs |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
Border Guard |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
|
TOTAL |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
|
Total 2004-2007 |
Police |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
Customs |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
Border Guard |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
|
|
TOTAL |
1 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
Appendix 3
Suicides by sex in 2001–2006
|
2001 |
2002 |
2003 |
2004 |
2005 |
2006 |
|
|
Total |
1204 |
1095 |
1075 |
1064 |
994 |
1062 |
|
Men |
933 |
824 |
815 |
812 |
724 |
803 |
|
Women |
271 |
271 |
260 |
252 |
270 |
259 |
Source: Statistics Finland , Statistics, Health/Causes of death http://tilastokeskus.fi/til/ksyyt/index_en.html
Appendix 4
Figure: Number of child and youth psychiatric patients, who did not gain access to care within three months.
Appendix 5
Table Households in receipt of social assistance by type of household in 1996–2006. Number of households and per cent ages of all comparable households in Finland .
|
Year |
1 adult - man |
1 adult - woman |
2 adults |
1 adult + children |
2 adults + children |
All households in receipt of social assistance |
|
|
1996 |
Number |
131 826 |
86 535 |
41 657 |
36 343 |
53 230 |
349 591 |
|
per cent |
19.8 |
11.8 |
6.1 |
31.9 |
10.2 |
12.9 |
|
|
2004 |
Number |
105 409 |
68 912 |
19 605 |
31 788 |
25 303 |
251 017 |
|
per cent |
14.8 |
9.1 |
2.6 |
26.9 |
5.3 |
8.9 |
|
|
2005 |
Number |
101 103 |
66 286 |
18 513 |
29 708 |
23 238 |
238 848 |
|
per cent |
14.1 |
8.,7 |
2.4 |
25.2 |
4.9 |
8.4 |
|
|
Change |
2004–2005 per cent |
-4.1 |
-3.8 |
-5.6 |
-6.5 |
-8.2 |
-4.8 |
Appendix 6
Households according to duration of social assistance in 2005, duration in months, per cent ages of recipient households.
|
Year 2005 |
1 adult - man |
1 adult - woman |
2 adults |
1 adult + children |
2 adults + children |
per cent of all recipient households |
|
1–3 months |
40.4 |
45.4 |
46.2 |
44.9 |
38.4 |
42.5 |
|
4–6 months |
18.6 |
18.5 |
18.8 |
20.7 |
18.7 |
18.9 |
|
7–9 months |
14.6 |
13.5 |
13.7 |
15.5 |
16.2 |
14.5 |
|
10–12 months |
26.4 |
22.6 |
21.3 |
19.0 |
26.7 |
24.1 |
|
Total |
100 |
100 |
100 |
100 |
100 |
100 |