Submitted by crinadmin on
Summary: General overview of Finland's national legal provisions on children's rights, including guidance on how to conduct further research.
National laws on children's rights
Status of the CRC in national law
Section 74 of the Constitution of Finland allows the Constitutional Law Committee to issue statements on the constitutionality of new laws as well as their relation to international human rights treaties such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child, but not to strike down or amend laws. It is not clear whether the Convention could or has been applied or cited in domestic courts. It seems, however, that the Convention is primarily viewed as laying out standards with regards to children's rights to be implemented through legislation.
Constitution: the Constitution contains extensive rights provisions that apply regardless of age, but also contains four sections that specifically address the rights of children.
-
s. 5 addresses the acquisition of Finnish citizenship through birth and parentage;
-
s. 6 provides that “children shall be treated equally and as individuals and they shall be allowed to influence matters pertaining to themselves to a degree corresponding to their level of development”;
-
s. 12 allows freedom of expression through pictoral programmes to be abridged as necessary for the protection of children, provided that abridgement is authorised by an Act; and
-
s. 19 creates a right to social security, making specific reference to children and the families of those with children.
Legislation: Finnish law has no comprehensive act addressing the rights of children, though matters of criminal law concerning offences committed by and against children are addressed by the Penal Code (1889/39). Other relevant legislation includes, but is by no means limited to:
-
The Child Welfare Act (2007/417) amended 2010
-
The Youth Act (2006/72) amended 2011
-
The Act on Measures for Preventing the Distribution of Child Pornography (1068/2006)
-
Act on the Ombudsman for Children (1221/2004)
-
Young Workers' Act (998/1993) amended 2004
-
The Basic Education Act (628/1998) amended 2010
-
The Child Daycare Act (1973/36) amended 2006
-
The Health Care Act (1326/2010)
-
The Decree on maternity and child health services, schools and student health care and preventative oral health care for children and young people (380/2009) amended 2011
Legal Research:
The Finnish Parliament (Suomen Eduskunta) maintains an official website in Finnish, English, Swedish and French (http://web.eduskunta.fi/Resource.phx/eduskunta/index.htx?lng=fi). All legislation is published in the Suomen säädöskokoelma (the Statute Book of Finland), and most is available online through FINLEX (http://www.finlex.fi/sv/laki/ajantasa/1999/19990731). The Constitution is available online in English (http://www.om.fi/uploads/54begu60narbnv_1.pdf), as well as in the official Finnish (http://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/ajantasa/1999/19990731) and Swedish (http://www.finlex.fi/sv/laki/ajantasa/1999/19990731). Legislation is largely only available in Finnish and Swedish, though some is available in (http://www.finlex.fi/en/). The GlobaLex initiative at New York University provides a helpful legal research guide (http://www.nyulawglobal.org/Globalex/Finland1.htm), and both the U.S. Library of Congress (http://www.loc.gov/law/help/guide/nations/finland.php) and World Legal Information Institute (http://www.worldlii.org/catalog/2073.html) provide links to a number of legal resources.
Case law
CRC Jurisprudence
Please contact CRIN if you are aware of any cases in national courts that reference the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Case Law Research
Finnish case law can be found in Finnish (http://www.finlex.fi/fi/oikeus/), Swedish (http://www.finlex.fi/sv/oikeus/), and English (http://www.finlex.fi/en/oikeus/) through the FINLEX website. The Supreme Court also maintains an official website in these three languages (http://www.kko.fi/index.htm), as does the Supreme Administrative Court (http://www.kho.fi/).
Compliance with the CRC
In 2011, the Committee on the Rights of the Child “note[d] the legislative actions undertaken by the State party aimed at strengthening the constitutional, legal and normative framework related to the implementation of the Convention”, but also “remain[ed] concerned at the lack of a consolidated legislative framework covering the full scope of the Convention....”
In depth analysis
The Committee on the Rights of the Child has been complementary of Finnish compliance with the Convention in a number of areas, singling out the Child Welfare Act and legislation addressing child pornography for particular praise in its 2011 Concluding Observations. There are some areas of national law, however, about which the Committee has expressed concern. Though the Child Welfare Act incorporates the principles of the best interests of the child and respect for the views of the child, Finnish legislation more broadly has not been amended to address these rights. The Committee has also persistently expressed concern about discrimination against children with disabilities, or from ethnic minorities. Though reforms to the Non-discrimination Act have sought to address these problems, the Committee remains concerned about discriminatory treatment of children.
More specifically, the issue of corporal punishment was raised in the Committee's 2011 observations. Though there is a National Action Plan in place to eliminate corporal punishment, and there are laws prohibiting such punishment, the Committee noted that corporal punishment remains tolerated and used, particularly in the home. In their recommendations, the Committee called for Finnish authorities to enforce the relevant laws already in effect.
Current legal reform projects
In 2007 the Ministry of Justice appointed a Committee to prepare reforms to Finnish legislation on non-discrimination in its entirety. At the time of the last report to the CRC, the MoJ Committee was due to submit its proposal by autumn 2009.