Amnesty International Report 2000 - Finland

Head of state: Martti Ahtisaari
Head of government: Paavo Lipponen
Capital: Helsinki
Population: 5.1 million
Official languages: Finnish, Swedish
Death penalty: abolitionist for all crimes

Six conscientious objectors were adopted as prisoners of conscience in November. The findings of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (ECPT), and of the UN Committee against Torture, were made public. There were reports of an increase in racist and xenophobic attitudes, and of discrimination against the Sami people.

Conscientious objectors

Under current legislation, conscientious objectors to military service serve a period which is more than twice as long as that served by approximately 50 per cent of military recruits. AI considers this to be punitive. Under the Military Service Act 19/1998, the length of military service was shortened while alternative civilian service remained unchanged. Although the length of armed service depends on rank, type of service and length of contract, about half the military recruits serve 180 days while all conscientious objectors have to serve 395 days.

AI informed the Minister of Labour in November that it had adopted six conscientious objectors as prisoners of conscience. Most were students who had been sentenced to 197 days' imprisonment for refusing to carry out alternative civilian service.

The Finnish Minister of Labour informed AI in October that a review of the alternative civilian service system had been initiated in July. The review was to take into account human rights and to include a comparative study of systems in other countries. AI replied that it welcomed such a review but stated that until the length of alternative service was reduced, it would adopt as a prisoner of conscience any conscientious objector imprisoned for refusing alternative civilian service.

Ill-treatment

The findings of a visit in June 1998 by the ECPT were published by the Finnish government in May 1999. The Committee found that since its previous visit in 1992 there had been positive action to implement its recommendations. However, it expressed concern that under the Aliens Law people could be detained in local prisons and police stations; that long-term prisoners spent most of the day in their cells; and that prisoners at Riihimäke Central Prison were often left naked in the observation cell.

On 9 November the government responded to the ECPT's report. It stated that the latest Aliens Act of 22 April was addressing detention facilities for aliens and that a working group had been appointed to set them up. The government denied that prisoners were placed naked in the observation cell at Riihimäke Central Prison, except in cases where it was found necessary to strip prisoners, and that they were given clothes once in the cell. It also stated that it aimed to increase the planning of long-term prisoners' activities.

The UN Committee against Torture issued its conclusions and recommendations in November after considering Finland's third periodic report. The Committee recommended that Finland incorporate adequate penal provisions to make torture a punishable offence in line with the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and that the law governing isolation in pre-trial detention be changed. It expressed satisfaction about legal measures taken by the government to accommodate asylum-seekers in places other than prisons.