Reply to List of Issues : Finland. 08/01/96.
. (Reply to List of Issues)

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD

Answers of the Government of Finland to the questions of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC/C.11/WP.6) of 27 November 1995


[Received on 8 January 1996]


General measures of implementation
(Arts - 4, 42 and 44 Para 9 of the Convention)

Question 1

The Convention as such has the same status as a law passed by the Finnish Parliament.

The provisions on fundamental rights in the Finnish Constitution are totally reformed. The new provisions came into force 1st January 1995 (969/1995). There is a specific provision in the Constitution on treatment of children (art. 5 para. 3) : "Children shall be treated equally as individuals, and they shall be allowed to influence matters affecting them according to their level of maturity."

In addition, there is a provision in the Constitution prohibiting discrimination. One specific ground of forbidden discrimination is age (art. 5 para 2). Fundamental rights provisions apply to all persons under Finnish jurisdiction irrespective of age.

There also is a provision in the Constitution on Government's responsibilities in relation on taking care of children (art. 15a para 3) : ".... Government shall also support the opportunities of families and others responsible for the care of children to secure the child's welfare and individual growth.


Question 2

Steps have been taken at both national and municipal levels. At the national level the government has recently submitted a Report on Child Policy and Child Protection to the Parliament. In the report child policy and child welfare issues are discussed in the context of the principal aims and provisions of the Convention.

The report has been sent to the Members of Parliament as well as to all municipalities and child welfare organizations. It has also been widely discussed in the mass media and is thus well known to all.

In the report the Government proposes that the Parliament should establish a Child Ombudsman's office. One of the main functions of the office would be to spread awareness about the Convention and to follow its implementation in administration, services and legislation. The Child Ombudsman would study the conditions in


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which children live and the services available to children and families with children by analyzing statistics, administrative reports and the results of scientific research. When needed, the Child Ombudsman could try to coordinate and harmonize political decision-making and administrative functions at different levels and sectors in the interest of minors.

To improve the conditions for consistent and conscious child policy the Government proposes in the report that a balance showing the distribution of resources between age groups, should be included in the state budget. Research and statistics should he focused to a greater extent on children and their living conditions.

According to the report it is also considered important to start a multidisciplinary research project to find out the reasons for and signs of the exclusion of children, and the best possible methods to intervene in the process at an early stage by means of integrated support and services in day care, at school, in health care and social services.


Question 3

The severe recession of the Finnish economy has cut down the budgetary resources of the local authorities. The financial situation of the central government has weakened during the 90's and the state subsidies for municipalities have been cut during the past few years. Both the central and local authorities have been compelled to cut down public spending on the whole.

The responsibilities given by legislation to the municipalities have not, however, been cancelled. On the contrary, since the beginning of 1996, all families with children under school-age (usually 7 years) are entitled to day care services organized by municipalities. This means that all pre-schoolers whose parents are working or studying will receive a day care place arranged for by the municipality within two weeks after the parents have applied for the day care place. Accordingly, children whose parents are unemployed, are entitled to day care services within four months after application.

According to surveys made by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, the municipalities have, in spite of the recession, in general been able to maintain both a sufficient quantity and a high quality of social and health services.

However, the situation of some special client groups, including services for children, is not satisfactory in all municipalities . The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health has just nominated a committee to propose how the costs of expensive services for special client groups can be shared: between municipalities so that access to services for children could be guaranteed in all municipalities. It has appeared that especially small municipalities have difficulties to provide services in child protection situations, where children should be taken into


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custody and their care should be arranged elsewhere than in their own home.


Question 4

In October 1995 the Government gave to the Parliament a report called "From Child Protection towards Child Policy". At that time the Parliament had only a brief preliminary discussion on the report. The Parliament will give its answer to the report during spring 1996. In the report it is stated that, on an average, families with children have been affected more by the economic recession than other groups of the population. The relative and absolute numbers of children of families living on the last-resort living allowance have steadily risen. However, disparities between fami-lies with children have grown, too. As noted above, the Government draws special attention to children living in risk situations and to the support and services f or them and their families (see also the answer to question 2).

The report also focuses on the need to promote children's participatory rights in their daily lives at home, in kindergartens, at schools etc., as well as in the local planning processes and politics. The status and the rights of children in legal proceedings should also be strengthened.


Question 5

As noted in answer 2, the Government has proposed that the Parliament should establish a Child Ombudsman's Office to function as a general "watchdog". The experience of the Manner-heim League for Child Welfare, a nongovernmental Organization, has proved that there is also a need for an Ombudsman working at an individual level. The ministry of Justice is examining the possibility to make this function part of the work of the Office of the Parliamentary Ombudsman, which deals with individual comp-laints. Whatever functions the Child Ombudsman will have, there will be a need for a close cooperation with the numerous child welfare organisations that carry on different types of ombudswork for children at both the general and the individual level.


Question 6

Although the Convention is part of the training and retraining programmes, there has been no systematic approach to include its principles in all the programmes. The Convention is included in the training of Finnish professionals at two levels. The first concerns the implementation mechanism of the Convention in Finland. Several legal acts regarding children in different fiel-ds include provisions which correspond to the respective provisions of the Convention. Initial training of professionals include studies of the legislation and as a result students get


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familiar with the principles and provisions of the Convention.

The second level means studies of the Convention text. It can be mentioned that the international human right conventions, inclu-ding Convention on the Rights of the Child, are nowadays part of the requirements for lawyer's degree. This degree is the examination almost invariably held by professional judges, high police officers and prison governors.

For social and health care personnel the Convention has been a part of the programme at numerous retraining courses and seminars.

Human rights and rights of the child are mainstreaming subjects of the teacher education and training. These are also separately taught in connection with the international studies.

Professional in-service training for the teachers is provided by the education centres of the National Board of Education and the centres for continuing education of the Universities. Several non-governmental organizations also arrange human rights studies and international studies for teachers.

Question 7

The Convention has been translated into Swedish, which is one of the two official languages of Finland. Because of the curricula in Finnish schools, people belonging to national minorities in Finland usually know the Finnish language even when it is not their mother tongue. Thus the Convention and the report in the Finnish language are available for them.

Question 8

Some non-governmental organisations have actively spread awareness of the Convention and have applied for money from the government for this purpose and received it. In addition, several child welfare organisations in Finland receive a great deal of their budgetary resources from semi-public funds.

Question 9

Finland continues to give in her development aid policy a high priority for social development, especially alleviation of poverty. A large part of aid, appr. 40% of bilateral aid alone, is allocated for human resources development through e.g. primary education and health as well as other means of empowerment of the poor. These areas are very important also in the promotion of the rights of the children.

Due to the severe economic problems during the first half of the 1990s Finland has had to give up, temporarily, the aid target of 0.7 % of GDP. The government is in a process or drawing up a plan

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on how to reach that target again.


Finland emphasizes the primary responsibility of the recipient countries as to their development process. Finland finds it necessary that also the recipients allocate adequate national resources for the same purposes in order to make aid and national efforts to complement each other in achieving sustainable social development.


Definition of the child
(Article 1 of the Convention)

Question 10

The supervision of the observance of the Art (998/93) and Decree (508/86) on the protection of young employees is, according to Section 17 of the Act, the responsibility of labour protection authorities. The law sets a fine for neglecting to observe these laws. The Act on the supervision of labour protection (131/73) includes provisions on the tasks and powers of the labour protection authorities. According to Section 3 of this Act, supervision shall be carried out as often and as effectively as necessary in order to secure the observation of the obligations enacted. The labour protection authorities carry out about 30 000 examinations at workplaces yearly. According to the act, the la-bour Protection authority informed about a violation of the labour protection provisions, shall keep the name of the person giving the information strictly confidential.



General Principles
(Arts - 2, 3, 6 and 2.2 of the Convention)


Question 11

The Committee mentioned in page 5 of the report primarily studied problems of the decision-making system in child welfare and proposed, among other things, the following changes in the decision-making procedure:

- The most important decisions on involuntary child welfare measures should be made by the Provincial Courts on the recommendation of the municipal official responsible for child welfare. At present involuntary care orders, the related substitute care and annulment of the taking into care are in the first instance made by municipal boards consisting of laymen.

- The concept of emergency placement measure should be introduced instead of emergency taking into care. After an emergency placement measure the Provincial Court would decide on further preparations for a possible taking into care on the


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recommendation of an Official, determine the length of the preparation period according to the situation - it could also continue this period, and, where needed, issue interlocutory orders on child welfare measures before a decision is made on taking the child into care.

- The status of the child in decision-making an involuntary child welfare measures should be strengthened. A new system is needed to give municipal social workers legal assistance for the preparation of child welfare decisions and for the legal process. In the most difficult conflict situations the Provincial Court could order for the child a representative who would act as his/her trustee.

- The provisions on the basis of which the contacts of a child taken into care with his/her family members can be limited should be made more precise, and the appeal procedure concerning decisions on limiting the contacts should be changed so that it is similar to other decisions an involuntary child welfare measures.

- It would also be advisable to improve the work practices and the professional skills of the staff in child welfare by means of training and instructions. A system should be created to level out considerable child welfare costs for municipalities (see answer to question 3).


Question 12

The framework curricula for the comprehensive school, for the upper secondary school and for the adult upper secondary school have been renewed in 1994. The core curriculum for vocational education will be renewed in 1995-96. The basic values of the core curricula are human dignity and respect for life: equality between human beings regardless of sex, race and wealth. The right for children belonging to the minorities to become active members of their own cultural community as well as the Finnish society is comprehended in the main cultural domains and values of the school. In the framework curricula tolerance and sincerity towards different cultural backgrounds, views and languages are also pointed out.

In the curricula elaborated by the municipalities or the schools themselves the mentioned parts can be included in the education of every pupil. Especially in the schools where there are immigrant pupils, these matters have been brought up.

Foreign citizens living in Finland have the right to attend comprehensive school. Immigrant pupils are supported by different educational arrangements, for instance, preparatory education, remedial education and mother tongue teaching in order to be able to study in normal classes.

Recently many schools and educational establishments have carried


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out tolerance increasing projects and projects on training attitudes. Information about the projects has been published in the newspapers of the National Board of Education arid distributed to other schools. The youth campaign of the Council of Europe against racism has supported the training of attitudes and projects in the local schools.

Teachers are provided with in-service training of varying durati-on concerning matters related to tolerance. This kind of training has also been included in the initial education of teachers.

As part of the project Suvaitsevaan Suomeen (towards a tolerant Finland) of the Delegation of Refugee and Immigration Affairs, a study has been started to assess how it would be possible to follow up and compile statistics on racist assaults and discrimination against immigrants. This would give information about the extent of racism and discrimination in Finland. The initial mapping out is carried out by means of an inquiry directed to Foreigners in our country.

The project "Towards a tolerant Finland" is extended to local-level organizations, which have had the possibility to apply for financial assistance for activities that promote tolerance. Attitudes and prejudices against foreigners moving to Finland and against Finnish national minorities, Romani and Sami, are tackled through training of attitudes and by other measures.

The Child Day Care Decree was amended in December 1994. A provision was included in the Decree prescribing that supporting the language and culture of Finnish or Swedish speaking children an children belonging to the Sami and Romany population and various immigrant groups is also one of the goals of education referred to in Section 2 a of the Act on Child Day Care.


Question 13

A new Commission appointed by the Ministry of Interior is preparing a platform of foreigner and refugee policy for the Government. The Commission is also supposed to propose some amendments to the legislation.

Although there are no special sections on children in the Aliens' Act, the rights of the child are well cared for in practice. In the Aliens' Act it is stated that "This Act, any provisions and stipulations enacted by virtue of it, and international agree-ments by which Finland is bound by shall be applied to aliens' entry into and departure from Finland and to their residence and employment in the country".

The special needs of minors are taken into account in the Aliens' Act concerning the requirements for granting residence permits. In practice children's needs are taken into account when family and other ties to Finland and humanitarian aspects for granting residence permit are considered by the authorities.


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At the examination of asylum cases applications made by minors travelling alone are given first priority in time (over the applications made by adults) and the examination shall be carried out promptly. The trustee appointed to a minor travelling alone has to be given the opportunity to be present at the examination.

A person less than 18 years of age may not be placed in detention without hearing the social welfare authorities or the Ombudsman for Aliens. In detention a child shall be kept apart from adults, and shall have the right to be in contact with his/her parents -in practice detention of minors happens very rarely. In 1995 ten minors had been in detention, eight of them aged 16-17. The detentions usually lasted less than three days.

According to the Aliens' Act, when considering deportation from Finland, "...all relevant matters and circumstances must be as-sessed in their entirety. At least, the following points must be considered: the duration of the alien's stay in the country, any child-parent relationship, family ties, other bonds to Finland..."

In the application directive concerning refusal of entry there is a reference to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. -According to the application directive, the best interest of the child has to be taken into account when a refusal of entry of a minor is examined. When the question concerns a minor travelling alone, the decision-making take place at the Directorate of Immigration. This exceptional procedure aims at the safeguarding of the rights of the alien in the best possible way. Such decisions can normally be made at a lower administrative level.


Question 14

As mentioned in answer 2, the Government has in its report to the Parliament given a proposal for establishing an office for a Children's Ombudsperson, whose task would especially be to take up the needs and views of children in general decision-making. In the report special attention was paid to children's participa-tory rights. When the report was delivered to Parliament the mass media informed the public very well of the general principles of the Convention and also of children's participatory rights. Furthermore, the report will be sent to all municipalities.

The committee appointed to improve the procedure defects which obstruct the implementation of "the best interests of the child" has also made proposals to improve children's participatory rights in child welfare proceedings.



Civil rights and freedoms
(Arts- 7, 8, 13-17 and 37(a) of the Convention)


Question 15

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In Finland the children who do mot belong to any religious group have the right to participate in the tuition of ethics, if there are at least three children who don't belong to any religious
group attending.

Ethics supports the individual to form his philosophy of life, gives him an opportunity to understand the basic nature of the world and values to solve problems of life. The aim of the study of ethics is to make the student understand different viewpoints, and specify solutions to ethical issues from the point of view of human rights. European and other cultural traditions are studied in such a way that the student gets an all-round education.

The contents of ethics can be classified into three divisions: human relations and moral growth, cultural identity, and social relationship, civic ethics.

Question 16

The new provision of the Constitution on childrens' participatory rights mentioned above (see answer to question 1) governs other legislation so that when new laws are enacted and former laws are revised more attention than before is paid to the possibility for children to influence matters relating to them. This is also emphasized in the Governments report to the Parliament (see answer to question 2)

In the school system childrens' participatory rights are implemented on two levels: Firstly, there are student bodies, consisting of the students of the school, in the upper level of comprehensive school, in upper secondary school and in vocational institutions. The purpose of a student body is to plan and enhance pupils, cooperation as well as school activities. If there is a board of governors in the school, the student body chooses two student members to the board of governors. In addition, in vocational institutions there can be a special cooperation organ consisting of teachers', staff's and students, representatives.

Secondly, teaching methods giving the pupils and students an active role gain ground more and more in schools and vocational institutions and in the training and re-training of teachers. Also in day care children are increasingly seen and treated as active actors rather than mere objectives of care and education.

Question 17

At present provisions concerning pornography are included in the act prohibiting distribution of obscene publications (23/1927). For instance the distribution and public display of indecent or obscene articles is punishable. The compliance of this provision is controlled chiefly by random checks.


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The penal provisions in question are to be transferred into the Penal Code. At the game time the limits of punishability would be marked more clearly. Among other things, sexually offensive marketing would be limited by the new provisions. The objective is to protect individuals from seeing pornographic material against their will. Punishable acts would be for instance handing over to persons under 15 years of age, displaying in public or sending to a person without his consent pornographic publications for financial gain and offering for sale or publicly demonstrating such publications in advertisements, brochures, posters or otherwise. These limitations would concern any pictures and articles which can he regarded as pornographic, i.e. -sexually offensive.

The government proposal will be submitted to parliament during the spring or summer of 1996.

The constitutional provision including prohibition of preventive censorship, which entered into force on 1st August 1995, has one exception. According to this provision restrictions to the freedom of speech necessary for the protection of children may be prescribed by law. Regulations remaining in force after amendment of the Constitution make it possible to carry out film and video censorship in order to restrict pornography to be shown to children. In practice, the restrictions on these products are clearly more extensive than restrictions on pornography in general. Moreover, age limits are set in connection with film censorship to protect children from being exposed to pornography. -The distribution of video tapes which are prohibited to persons under 18 is totally prohibited. The inspecting authority can also prohibit the distribution of picture programmes as a commercial activity to persons under the age of 16.

Family environment and alternative care
(Arts. 5, 18 paras I and 2, 9, 10, 27 para. 4, 20, 21, 11, 19 and 39 and 25 of the Convention)


Question 13

The municipalities are responsible of providing services in problematic situations. In principle all citizens have an access to such services. The problem has been the quality and the quantity of the services in some parts of the country. As the economic situation of the municipalities has now improved, also the services have slowly developed according to the statistics on the quantity of the service personnel. Trained personnel is available due to the heavy unemployment situation.

The number of children under child welfare measures, both placed outside their homes and in open care, has been rising steadily since 1991 (see table 1). The heavy unemployment seems to be the main reason for this and special measures are planned to be taken to tackle negative social consequences of unemployment and


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exclusion due to it. Remarkable is that since the beginning of 1996 all children under school-age are entitled co municipal day care, even the parents would stay at home for example because of unemployment (see also answers to questions 3, 4 and 36).

New methods to support child welfare clients in open care are being developed. Two non-governmental organisations together with municipalities are organizing systematic and intensified home-help for child families in risk situations.

After-care measures for children and young people (after the annulment of a care order) prescribed by Child Welfare Act have been increasingly available even if they still are not sufficient in all Municipalities. The Government aims to extend the right to after-care measures also to children who have been in institutional care without a care order.

As regards the strict time-limit for social work following emergency care orders, new procedural provisions have been recommended both in the Government's report to the Parliament and by the Committee mentioned above (see answers to questions 2 and 11).


Question 19

Finland has signed the 1993 Hague Convention on April 19th 1994. The proposition for Finland's ratification of the Convention is planned to be submitted to the Parliament in January 1996.


Question 20

Finland follows the UNHCR recommendation to give a residence -permit to immigrate to the members of a nuclear family: spouses, under-aged children, parents of under-aged and unmarried under-aged sisters. Especially refugees have complained that this definition is too strict. The main problem is the difficulty to prove the family membership if there are no documents of they are false. An application for family reunification shall be made to a local police officer who has to ask for statement from a social worker. Immigration Department of the Ministry of interior gives the final decision.

Family reunification is considered important from the point of view of a interest of a child.

Question 21

See answer to question 11.

Question 22 12

No evaluation has been made of the effectiveness of the training given to the professionals to protect children from abuse. The number of cases treated, however, has risen considerably in the last few years and negative attitudes of the abuse or sexual exploitation of children no longer exist among the professionals. The training of the personnel in social welfare and health con-tinues. The prevention of child abuse has been included in the curricula of various professionals at all levels.

In order to improve expertise in child welfare a new nationwide re-training course for social workers has recently been started. Some municipalities and the regaining centers of some universities are developing similar re-training programmes, too. -The Government has also urged municipalities to organize social work in a way that safeguards expertise in child welfare.

The practices and procedures used by authorities in making decisions affecting children have been reviewed by two committees. See information about their proposals on revising legal procedures in the answers to questions 11 and 23.


Question 23

A government proposition (96/1995) on an act revising the procedure of enforcing decisions concerning child custody and right of access is just now under parliamentary proceeding.

The proposition provides that a Court of Justice should impose enforcement regarding a child's custody and right of access instead of an administrative authority, Provincial Government. The Courts of Justice also settle substantial matters relating to child custody and right of access.

Conciliation procedures in connection with the enforcement of decisions concerning child custody and right of access is proposed to be improved. Enforcement is to be the responsibility of the execution officer in cooperation with the social authorities. Conciliation must preceed the coercive measures and aims at avoiding them.

In order to protect the best interests of the child in the process the conciliator shall be qualified in child protection or family counselling matters. The conciliator shall personally speak with the child, if it is possible considering the child's age and level of maturity. The aim of this discussion is to establish the wishes and opinions of the child. The conciliator shall submit to the court a report. On certain conditions the child may be heard also in court.

Enforcement measures should not be taken against the will of a child over the age of 12, nor against the will of a younger child if he or she is sufficiently mature. In this respect the proposition is in accordance with existing law.

The coercive measures remaining would be a conditionally imposed


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fine and fetching of the child. The conversion of a conditionally imposed fine into imprisonment is proposed to be restricted. The child could be fetched to see a parent if there are weighty reasons from the point of view of the child's interest. Fetching is not possible according to existing legislation.

Provisions concerning a temporary procedural remedy, for instance for the prevention of a child being illegally brought out of the country, are also proposed to be included in the new act.



Basic health and welfare
(Arts- 6 para. 2, 23, 24, 26, 18 para. 3, and 27 paras. 1-3 of the Convention)


Question 24

The reform of the legislation on rehabilitation meant that children with serious disabilities got a subjective right to medical rehabilitation arranged by the Social Insurance institution (various therapies, adaptation training courses, periods in rehabilitation institutions). Previously this part of rehabilitation was in the responsibility of municipal health carp and the child was not entitled to it as a subjective right. The reform improved the opportunities to receive rehabilitation, levelled out regional differences and actually increased the quantity of rehabilitation given.


Question 25

A few years ago the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health carried out a development project concerning maternity as well as child and school health care services in primary health care.

Because of a decrease in these services during the past few years and owing to the recent report submitted to the Parliament on child policy there is now a new development project under planning. The project will include 1) evaluation of the maternal and child health services, 2) subprojects, which will be carried out in multiprofessional co-operation in municipalities to promote the development of the contents and methods of maternal and child health care services, and 3) finally the results of the development project will be evaluated.

The Child Welfare Act, which was amended in 1990, aimed at promoting the availability of psychosocial services in schools. -The municipalities were obligated to arrange sufficient support and counselling to pupils, to prevent psychosocial difficulties and to promote co-operation between schools and homes. However, most of the municipalities had not employed psychologists in schools. These tasks were taken care of, among others, by teachers, headmasters and public health nurses.


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The Social Welfare Act obligates the municipalities to arrange services for child upbringing and family counselling. The growing number of divorces and new forms of family have increased the demand for family counselling services. However, 9 % of the posts of psychologists, physicians, psychotherapists or social workers have been cut in the municipal family counselling centres.

The Primary Health Care Act obligates the municipalities to arrange the primary health care of the inhabitants. Primary health care includes also school health care. The resources of school physicians and public health nurses have been reduced in some municipalities. School health services have been removed from schools to health centres. The number of health check-ups performed by a school physician has diminished by 33 % and at the same time the number of health check-ups performed by a public health nurse has also decreased.


Question 26

Accidents are the main cause of children's deaths in Finland. The situation has greatly improved during the past three decades. Mortality due to illness is low because of the high quality of health care and services. At present there is a nationwide programme for the prevention of accidents at home and under leisure time. During this programme material and education have been provided for teachers in day care centres and schools, and also personnel visiting homes have got information packages on accident prevention. The programme is implemented in cooperation between many authorities and organizations. The problems to be focused on the future preventive work are school children's accidents and accidents that happen to boys living in the countryside. The Children's Accident Committee is a cooperation body with representatives from various sectors of society, and the work is run by the Central Union for Child Welfare since 1979.

Accidental deaths of children (per 100 000 children aged 0 - 14 years):

Year Mortality
1965 27.4
1975 20.4
1985 9.8
1993 7.3

Allergic diseases form the biggest group of the chronic diseases of children in Finland. The prevalence of allergic asthma is about 5 %. About 15 % of children and young adults have allergic rhinitis and 15 % of children and young adults have had atopic dermatitis during their life.

Measures taken against allergies include strong recommendations and counselling in order to promote breast-feeding of infants for as long as possible and dietary advice given by our health centres concerning small children. Parents of young children


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receive special advice to refrain from smoking (at least at home) for the benefit of their children.

Special measures are of ten taken to decrease the exposure of children with extrinsic asthma to dust and other airborne allergens and irritants. Special advice is given to these children and their parents on how to avoid exposure to dust originating from animals and how to prevent major reactions during pollen seasons. Those who have allergic predispositions usually get special medical recommendations from their school physicians on which exposures they should avoid in their future occupations.

The Asthma Programme in Finland 1994-2004 was published in 1994. This programme is also aimed at children. It is a national programme for the prevention and alleviation of problems caused by asthma. In general, childhood asthma is well controlled. There is no mortality in childhood asthma and hospitalization is seldom needed.


Question 27

A cooperation among all professionals working with children and young people has been the strategy of youth suicide prevention in Finland. In 1993-95 there were projects with schools, the church, the army and social and health services. The main aim was to promote awareness of the youth suicide problem, an early recognition of children's and young people's mental health problems, operational models of support and means of enhancing coping and life skills.


Question 28

Involuntary institutionalization of children for the treatment of mental illness lies in the responsibility of district medical authorities. Already in 1991 there were enough child psychiatric in-patient units considerably well distributed in the country, but there were lack of units for adolescents. The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health informed district medical authorities of their duty to organize psychiatric treatment of adolescents in full compliance with article 37(c) of the Convention. During 1991-1993 district medical authorities established several new in-patient units for adolescents.


Education, leisure and cultural activities
(Arts. 28, 29 and 31 of the Convention)

Question 29

In order to reduce public costs the public spending has been necessary. Even if
reductions had to be made in several field of


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activities, the aim was to make reductions with minimum negative effects on people living in difficult circumstances. According to the report made by the Association of Finnish Local Authorities, more than a half of the municipalities estimated that at the moment the level of the basic education security is as good as three years ago. According to the reports it seems that the majority of the municipalities have economized in study materials and acquisitions. Municipalities have decreased the amount of hours of club activities and remedial education hours, increased the efficiency of transportation, reduced administration, enlarged teaching groups, decreased weekly lesson hours and class tuition in special education. The number of spe-cial education teachers has not, however, decreased during the economy years of this decade. The National Board of Education is organizing a research of special education. It will be completed in the beginning of February 1996. The research will be the basis for further measures.


Question 30

In the comprehensive school immigrant pupils may study their own mother tongue as the first language and Finnish or Swedish as the second language. The municipality decides how the teaching is organized.

The municipality may provide preparatory teaching for the immigrant pupils before they start school level responding to their age and skills. Teaching may also be provided for pre-schoolaged. The state reimburses the municipality for the costs of the preparatory teaching. Because of financial reasons, until 1995 this education was given only refugees and asylum-seekers. In 1995 about 400 pupils completed their preparatory teaching. -The objective is to gave every immigrant pupil preparative teaching if necessary. In practice the larger municipalities pro-vide preparatory teaching for every immigrant pupil.

In the comprehensive school and upper secondary school Finnish and Swedish language teaching as second language teaching can be provided in many ways as part of the normal teaching subsidized by the state.

Foreign language pupils may study their own mother tongue as part of the normal comprehensive school or upper secondary school teaching or subsidized by the state. The pupil can be given this teaching during the entire school attendance. In 1994 about 4000 pupils speaking foreign languages were given this teaching, in 40 different languages. The largest language groups were in Russian, Somali, Vietnamese and English. In Finland mother tongue teachers have been trained since 1992.

In spring 1996 pupils speaking foreign languages may take a separate test for foreign students in the Swedish/Finnish language when taking the matriculation examination. The foreign language pupil will thus not have to pass the mother tongue examination meant for Finnish/Swedish speaking pupils.


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Question 31

During the recent years bullying and questions related to understanding differences have been widely discussed publicly in Finland. In 1993 the government appointed a special administrator to clear up the bullying problem. The administrator's report shows that bullying and school violence appear all over the country in all types of schools. During school attendance 15% of the pupils are involved in bullying as the bullies or as targets.

In the school inquiry made by the WHO the comprehensive school pupils at the age of 11, 13 and 15 were asked questions about bullying. The results showed that compared to other countries, Finland was on the average level. In Finland 9 % of the boys and 6 % of the girls told that they had been at least once a week targets of bullying at school.

The National Board of Education has tried in many ways to reduce bullying. The solutions have been, for instance, school negotiations, transfer to another school, punishments and the development of welfare at schools. Still the National Board of Education receives a lot of calls from parents, pupils and teachers asking for advice in the policy of solving problems. The most serious acts of violence have been given to the police. The school community should take care of the security in school and try to find the measures suitable for their own school in order to prevent bullying. The necessary cooperation between the school and the home has been emphasized in the prevention of bullying.

The basic education security is one of the priorities when developing education. In accordance with the development plan for the years 1995-2000, recently approved by the Government, operation models are going to be elaborated to reduce bullying, to make the pupils feel happier at school and to strengthen the self-esteem of the pupils. The teachers have to take these problems into consideration and have to recognize even better the symptoms of bullying.

The National Board of Education has provided a lot of training concerning bullying. This year there will be four training occasions, the subjects being, besides bullying, e.g. the control of crises in school, teaching of manners, behaviour and consideration of others. The National Board of Education has also produced teaching material related to bullying, discrimination, attractiveness of schools and tolerance.


Question 32

The framework curricula for the comprehensive school, upper secondary school and adult upper secondary school have been renewed in 1994. The core curriculum for vocational education will be renewed in 1995-96. As the main cultural domains and values of the framework curricula are the respect of human dignity and life and equality between human beings.

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The tuition of the rights of the child is included in the tuition of human rights which are taught mainstreamed. Democracy and human rights are included in the objects set for the comprehensive school and the upper secondary school as well as in the curricula and the main cultural domains and values of the school. In the tuition the objects are practiced by common occasions, projects, festivals (e.g. the day of the UN) the way co run the school, which means respecting the rights of everyone belonging to the school community and in all the different subjects and specially in history, social science, science of religion and ethics, in which the basic concepts of human rights and ethic ways approaching things should be taught.



Special protection measures
(Arts- 22, 30 and 32-40 of the Convention)


Question 33

In order to improve the legal status of minor asylum-seekers during the asylum procedure, an Act on the reception of refugees is being prepared (see para. 513 of the report). Personnel of the reception centres believe that a representative would see the interests of the child better than the present trustees. Until the new representative system will come into force, the trustee system will be developed mainly by training, clarifying the tasks of individual trustees and uniforming the practice.

A memorandum has been compiled of the reception of minor refugees and asylum-seekers arriving in Finland without a guardian. In this memorandum improvements have been suggested to the trustee system, and instructions are given for the reception of minors who have arrived in Finland without a guardian. The municipalities receiving minor asylum-seekers, who have been granted a positive decision to their asylum application, are urged to arrange the guardianship' or representation of the children immediately after their arrival. In this same memorandum instructions are given to local authorities. The instructions concern arrangements for the housing, education and leisure-time activities of the children, and cooperation of the authorities and other adults close to the children in order to promote the well-being of these children.

-See also answer to question 13.


Question 34

The municipalities receiving refugees are given considerable financial support. A large part of that support is directed to promote the adaptation of children under school-age.
The Office for Refugee Affairs in the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health directs the reception of refugees in a close


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cooperation with persons responsible for refugee affairs in the provincial governments. The ministry sends directives to the municipalities. The steering of the officials employed by municipalities is primarily taken place through training. The authorities responsible for refugee affairs arrange both orientation and supplementary training on the reception of refugees and concerning all the. fields involved (social welfare and health care, education, cultural services and leisure time) . Training includes information about the national legislation on children and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

In addition to this, various educational institutes and organizations, including child welfare organizations, arrange training. A video film "Olen lapsi" (I am a child) has been made in order to disseminate information about the Convention.

The activities are monitored by means of evaluations and studies. The Central union for Child Welfare is making an assessment of the reception of minors who have arrived in Finland alone both during the time they are waiting for asylum decision and after placement in a municipality. The international service centre of the city of Turku is making a survey of the situation of refugee families and especially that of the children. The results will be used in promoting the integration of immigrants.


Question 35

At the moment Finland has no plans to raise the age limit for voluntary enlistment. Finland has, however, a positive attitude towards the additional protocol being drafted for raising the age limit to 18. Even now the number of the boys under 18 who volunteer for military service is only some 150 to 300 per year, i.e. some 0,5 to 1,0 % of the recruits.


Question 36

The national employment program and the measures taken aim espe-cially at tackling long-term unemployment and youth unemployment. The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health is examining the consequences of unemployment to family-life, children and young people. So far the results have proved that the consequences of long-term unemployment are very alarming.

Day care is one way to minimize the negative consequences of unemployment on children. Since the beginning of 1996 all the children under school age have a subjective right to municipal day care, also the children of unemployed parents.

It has been discovered that day care problems sometimes cause long-term unemployment. To prevent this the Child Day Care Decree was amended so that the municipalities are obliged to arrange a day care place within two weeks when a parent of a child under school age finds a job or starts studies or training. The normal waiting period after the parents' application to arrange day care

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for a child is four months.

Finland is a member of the European Union since the beginning of 1995. In the national programmes financed by the Social Fund special attention has been paid on the negative social conse-quences of unemployment. In Finland children under the age of 17 do not in practice belong to the labour force. However, they may have short employment relationships and various kinds of practical training between studies. Those who do not have a vocational education and do not get the labour market benefit are guaranteed places in education or practical training.

The income security problems of the unemployed are mainly taken care of by means of the unemployment security in this system the number of the dependents is taken into account so that an unemployed person with minor children gets higher benefits for the children.

The parents of a child under 18 years of age are responsible for the maintenance of the child. A person aged 17 may get a labour market benefit during practical training.


Question 37

The only indeterminate sentence in practice is life sentence. A persons under the age of 18 who has committed a crime cannot be sentenced to life imprisonment.


Question 38

A proposition on "youth penalty" was submitted to the Parliament at the end of 1994. Due to a new elections, Parliament finished its work in February 1995.

A new proposal is being prepared at the moment. The basic principles of the new punishment will be unchanged. The "youth penalty" is meant to be an alternative to conditional imprisonment for young persons between the age of 15 and 17. The new penalty is proposed to comprise a short period of community service combined with cognitive elements, various group activities and supervision. The combination of these can vary from case to case.


Question 39

On December 1st, 1995 there were 12 persons under the age of 18 in prisons, 6 of them imprisoned and 6 in pre-trial custody.

The Ministry of Justice has passed instructions containing an obligation for prisons to accommodate persons under the age of 18 in single rooms or together with other persons under the age

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of 18. In practice this was the case for most of the 12 young inmates in the beginning of December 1995. Most of them, however, spent their daytime among persons under the age of 21. Three of them were not separated from inmates of any age during daytime.

The Mental Health Care Act entered into force from the beginning of 1991. In the first two years minors were still often committed to adult psychiatric units especially when diagnosed to suffer from mental illness. Hospitals and district medical authorities were not prepared to comply regulations of the Mental Health Act and the Convention of the Rights of the Child. There was both lack of separate psychiatric inpatient units for adolescents and lack of knowledge about the Convention. As early as in 1992 The Mental Health Care Act was revised in order to make sure that its implementation would not due to misunderstandings violate article 37 c of the Convention. District medical authorities have established several new psychiatric units for adolescents in 1991-1993. District medical authorities and doctors have been informed of the Convention.

The amount of involuntary treatment almost doubled during 1991--1993. This was a result of adopting an additional, lighter criterion for commitment of minors in the Mental Health Care Act In 1991. Although new adolescent Psychiatric units were established 28 % of involuntarily hospitalized minors were still treated among adults in 1993. However, the percentage of minors treated among adults has fallen (see figure 1) and the number of minors treated among adults has not risen.

Most involuntarily admitted younger children have been treated in compliance of the Convention. During 1991-1993 only 13 involuntarily hospitalized children under the age of 15 were treated in adult wards, and only seven of them stayed their whole treatment period in an adult psychiatric for adults. During 1991--1993 more than half (55%) of minors treated among adults were 17 year old adolescents. Most of them were diagnosed to have mental illness. Thus, at least for many of them, it may have been in the best interest for the adolescent to be hospitalized in an adult psychiatric ward, because several adult psychiatric units have specialized to treat schizophrenia of early adulthood.


Question 40

The Act on Welfare for Alcoholics and Drug Addicts obligates the municipalities to arrange services for alcoholics and drug addicts according to need. In spite of the economic difficulties the municipalities have tried to secure necessary services for persons with intoxicant problems by developing non-institutional care services. In various connections the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health has reminded the municipalities of their obligations as to the Act on Welfare for Alcoholics and Drug Addicts and have also sent them guidebooks in the matter.


Question 41 22

According to the government proposal referred to in paragraph 17, the so-called general protective age limit, will be 15 years. The age limit relates to a prohibition of senior people to have any sexual relationship with children under that age. Sexual relationships between young persons will not be as severely punishable as before. A higher age limit of 18 will be observed within families and in certain relationships of authority. This would concern the so-called new family patterns as well. A specific provision on buying sexual services from persons under the age of 18 will probably be included in the chapter on sexual offenses. A penal provision on sexual intercourse between consanguines will also be included in the Penal Code. For instance sexual intercourse between parent and child and between siblings would be punishable according to this provision.

According to paragraph ii of the regulation on pre-trial investigations, a child shall be treated in a manner consistent with his or her level of maturity during pre-trial investigation. Special care should be taken that the child will not be caused unnecessary prejudice at school, at work or in other environments important to him or her.

Problematic from the point of view of privacy are for some reason situations in which the pre-trial investigation of a sexual offence against a child is dismissed before the case comes before the court. According to existing law, pre-trial documents will then automatically become public. A remedy for the situation is, however, being prepared. According to drafted new rules, pre--trial investigation material including information of a very delicate nature will always be confidential. The draft rules have already been circulated for comment and the relevant government proposal will probably be submitted during 1996.

The importing, selling, distributing, demonstrating, manufacturing and possessing for distribution purposes of obscene publications are of old punishable acts according to Finnish law. The possession of pornographic material, on the other hand, is not punishable as such. Neither did the above-mentioned earlier propositions for reforming the legislation on pornography include any proposition involving punishment of possession. The solution arrived at in the course of drafting the legislation was, however, to criminalize separately the possession of child pornography.

The committee on sex business set up by the Ministry of Justice has recommended that sex telephone lines should be available to subscribers through separate agreement only. Moreover, the Ministry of Justice proposed that a future objective would be to require a personal code for the users of these lines.

According to Finnish legislation it is possible to prosecute and sentence to punishment Finnish citizens exploiting children sexually abroad.


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Question 42

The rights of Romani children, Sami children and children of other cultural groups to attend school are protected by law. Foreign school-aged children living in Finland have the right to attend comprehensive school. According to the regulations implemented in 1995 Romani, Sami and foreign language students may have their mother tongue as the first language and Finnish/Swedish as second language both in comprehensive school and in upper secondary school.

Since 1994 there is a special education unit for the Romani subordinated to the National Board of Education. The unit plans the development of the education of the Romani. In autumn 1995 the first ABC-book in Romani was published.

The Sami cultural autonomy is protected by law since 1.1.1996.

In the Sami home district and elsewhere in Finland Sami speaking students can study the Sami language and can be taught in this language in the comprehensive school and in the upper secondary school. Municipalities providing tuition in Sami language or providing tuition of Sami language get state supplement support. -The Sami curriculum is included in national framework curricula for the comprehensive school and for the upper secondary school-. In 1995/1996 about 600 pupils got instruction of the Sami language or in the Sami language. Most of the tuition in Sami language is given at the lower stage. In the matriculation examination a Sami student may take Sami and/or Finnish/Swedish as the mother tongue test. Each year FIM 1,5 million is allocated to produce Sami education material.

Sami language can be studied at the universities of Helsinki, Lapland (Rovaniemi) and Oulu.


Question 43

In Finland, there are approximately 6 000 Sami people, who mainly live in the area of the four northernmost municipalities of Finland. They speak three different Sami languages. According to statistics, there were 40 Sami-speaking children in day care in November 1995.

Since there are three different Sami languages and the distances in the northernmost area of Finland are very long, it has appeared to be difficult to provide all the social and health services to the inhabitants of the four municipalities in their own language. There is a constant lack of trained personnel capable of speaking and understanding the three different dialects. The situation is best in the Utsjoki area where the majority of the inhabitants speak the same Sami dialect.

The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health is starting a project together with the provincial government of Lapland at the beginning of 1996 to find out the amount of services being provided and needed in the three Sami languages, the costs of the services to the municipalities and the problems caused by the

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long distances and lack of trained personnel in the area. The project aims to improve the situation among the Sami people especially in the field of children's day care, services for the elderly and services for disabled persons.


Question 44

In recent years a lot has been done for reducing discrimination and raising the tolerance at schools and institutions. The reform of national care curriculum, the United Nations' tolerance theme year 1995 and Council of Europe's attitude campaign against racism have brought up these questions also in Finland.

At schools there have been projects and theme days. Different kinds of teaching and supplementary material have been prepared for the teachers and pupils. The National Board of Education has published two theme magazines of tolerance distributed them to schools free of charge. A video and project competition about good measures were announced for schools in 1995.

Different organizations have trained persons to visit schools to talk about the importance of positive attitudes. Several municipalities and provinces have drawn up their own programmes that stress the tolerance. Teachers are provided with supplementary training how to meet immigrant students.

Several programs will continue in 1996. The emphasis will also be on teachers' basic training in order to make positive interaction between different cultures a part of normal everyday routine of schools. A measure programme of cultural interaction drawn up for schools will be carried cut in 1996. Headmasters and teachers have a main role when the atmosphere at schools is improved.




Children and young persons placed outside home in 1970-1994 and those in non-institutional care in 1992-1994 according to municipality Category.


Year Family Insti- Other Total % of In non-insti- % of
care tution those un- tutional those un- der the care der the
age of 18 age of 18


The whole
country
1970 5 476 7 108 12 584 0,9
1975 5 378 5 548 10 926 0,9
1980 4 917 4 260 9 177 0,8
1987 4 645 3 750 8 395 0,7
1991 4 436 3 669 709 8 724 0,7
1992 4 698 3 732 984 9 141 0,8 23 456 2,0
1993 4 917 3 555 1 217 9 688 0,8 24 691 2,1
1994 5 038 3 754 1 431 10 223 0,9 27 816 2,4


©1996-2001
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Geneva, Switzerland