Finland launching anti-racism campaign amid series of scandals

By Leila Nezirevic

LONDON (AA) – The Finnish government will launch an anti-racism campaign after a series of last summer's far-right and racism scandals threatened to topple the governing coalition, local media reported Tuesday.

The campaign is set to launch between May and June 2024, according to newspaper Helsingin Sanomat.

Prime Minister Petteri Orpo government’s anti-racism campaign aims to challenge and encourage different parts of society to take action to promote equality and combat racism in Finnish society, according to the newspaper.

"Primarily, we hope to include organizations that have more influence as employers, organizers of hobbies and education, but of course, we also aim to offer individual citizens the opportunity to participate with their own contribution," leading expert Katriina Nousiainen from the State Council's office told local media outlet STT.

Last Summer, Finland's government faced accusations of racism after the online postings and articles by ministers from the Finns Party, a far-right member of the coalition, were considered racist.

As a result, the government initially agreed on a policy last June to combat intolerance in the hope of preventing the collapse of the four-party, right-wing coalition consisting of the conservative National Coalition Party, Christian Democrats, Swedish People’s Party, and the controversial far-right Finns Party.

According to Li Andersson, leader of the Left Alliance Party, “xenophobia and racism” have always been a part of the Finns Party’s politics.

The Finns Party “will not change who they are, they will not change what their party is,” Andersson told Anadolu last September.

In a 2019 report, the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), the Council of Europe’s independent rights watchdog warned that “racist and intolerant hate speech in public discourse is escalating” in Finland.

It said: “The main targets are asylum seekers and Muslims.”

The authors of the report warned that racist and abusive language is “commonplace” online among Finnish youth, while also pointing out a rise in its use in political discourse.

It also said the response by Finnish authorities to incidents of racism “cannot be considered fully adequate.”

According to the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights’ 2018 report, discrimination against the Black community is the most common in Finland, out of the 12 member states studied.

In 2022, Amnesty International highlighted the seriousness of the situation and urged “action to end structural racism in Finland.”

Andersson pointed out that the country is facing a “huge” demographic challenge due to an aging population and needs “more workforce, more families, more people from other countries to move to Finland.”

The current government “is doing the opposite” and this is bad for the economy, she said.