Amnesty International Report 2004 - Finland

Covering events from January - December 2003

Eleven conscientious objectors to military service were prisoners of conscience. International monitoring bodies expressed concern about some aspects of Finland's human rights record.

Conscientious objectors to military service imprisoned

The length of alternative civilian service remained punitive: all conscientious objectors were required to perform 395 days of alternative service, 215 days longer than the majority of recruits who perform military service. AI continued to urge the authorities to reduce the length of alternative civilian service in line with internationally recognized standards and recommendations on conscientious objection to military service. In August AI wrote to the newly appointed government urging a review of existing legislation at the earliest opportunity.

• Eleven conscientious objectors were prisoners of conscience during 2003. Most of them received prison sentences of between 175 and 197 days for refusing to perform alternative civilian service. The majority gave the discriminatory length of service as a reason for their refusal to perform alternative civilian service.

International scrutiny of human rights record

In August the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination considered Finland's 16th periodic report on its implementation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. In its Concluding Observations, the Committee welcomed the approval in January of a bill revising the Penal Code and including "racist motives" as aggravating circumstances of a crime, and the introduction of a provision punishing participation in organizations which promote or incite racial discrimination. However, it expressed concern about the number of allegations brought to its attention reflecting racist and xenophobic attitudes among some sectors of the population, notably the young. It also noted that one reason for the reluctance of victims of racial discrimination to lodge a complaint was the assumption that the complaint would not lead to any result. It recommended that the authorities disseminate as widely as possible information on the available domestic remedies against acts of racial discrimination and the legal avenues to obtain compensation in such cases.

In October the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) published the preliminary observations of its third periodic visit in September to various places of detention in Finland. The CPT noted that it had not received any allegations of ill-treatment by the police, by prison staff in the three prisons visited, or by staff at the psychiatric establishment visited. However, it noted that there was an urgent need to draw up detailed instructions on the use of force and means of restraint authorized in the context of deportation of foreign nationals. The CPT had obtained information about a case involving several members of the same family, including two minors, who had been forcibly injected with sedating and neuroleptic medication without proper examination by a doctor, a practice which, in the CPT's opinion, was totally unacceptable.