Finland continues to ensure the protection of the rights of its national minorities and progress has been achieved on Samí cultural rights and education of Roma children. However further improvement is needed concerning the rights of Samí people, the deteriorating situation of the Swedish language and growing intolerance and hate speech, according to an opinion published today by the Council of Europe´s Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities.
Access to rights relevant to the identity of the Samí people, such as land and water rights, should be defined, possibly through a high-level dialogue by a government-led platform. Finland should also ensure that the knowledge, visibility and presence of the Swedish language in society are maintained, to guarantee a sustainably bilingual country.
Furthermore, Finland should step up efforts to combat increasing intolerance, polarisation and xenophobia affecting the national minorities through growing hate speech in social media and in the political arena. The police should also increase recruitment from the different minorities.
The Finnish government said in a comment, that a programme to educate kindergarten teachers in Samí languages will be launched at the University of Oulu, receiving special funding by the Ministry of Education and Culture. The government also wrote that a training programme on hate crime prevention for police officers is scheduled before end 2016.
The Advisory Committee´s opinion is based on information submitted by the government through a State Report, other written sources and on information obtained from governmental and non-governmental sources during its visit to Helsinki and Inari from 5-9 October 2015.
The Advisory Committee is composed of 18 independent experts elected and appointed for four years. In accordance with Resolution (97) 10 of the Committee of Ministers, members of the Advisory Committee must have recognised expertise in the field of the protection of national minorities. They shall serve in their individual capacity, be independent and impartial and available to serve on the Committee effectively.