Finland’s human rights record to be reviewed by Universal Periodic Review

Finnish

GENEVA (28 April 2017) – Finland’s human rights record will be examined by the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Working Group for the third time on Wednesday, 3 May 2017 in a meeting that will be webcast live.

Finland is one of the 14 States to be reviewed by the UPR Working Group during its upcoming session taking place from 1 to 12 May, which also marks the commencement of the third UPR cycle.  Finland’s first and second UPR reviews took place in April 2008 and May 2012, respectively.

The documents on which the reviews are based are: 1) national report - information provided by the State under review; 2) information contained in the reports of independent human rights experts and groups, known as the Special Procedures, human rights treaty bodies, and other UN entities; 3) information provided by other stakeholders including national human rights institutions, regional organizations and civil society groups.

Among the issues raised in the above-mentioned documents are: steps to combat racism, discrimination and xenophobia, as well as hate speech, extremist movements and violent extremism; combatting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity; steps to combat and prevent violence against women; legislative and practical measures to address cases of rape; tackling human trafficking and the national action plan against human trafficking; the implementation of the Equal Pay Programme and the Act on Equality between Women and Men; preventing discrimination against the Roma; addressing bullying in schools; the rights of the Sami peoples, including the right to their land and their role in decision making; the rights of asylum seekers and the asylum procedure established under the Aliens Act; and steps to combat discrimination against persons with immigrant backgrounds.

The three reports serving as the basis for the review of Finland on 3 May can be found here: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/UPR/Pages/FISession27.aspx

Location: Room 20, Palais des Nations, Geneva
Time and date: 14.30 – 18.00, Wednesday, 3 May (Geneva time, GMT +1 hour)

The UPR is a unique process which involves a periodic review of the human rights records of all 193 UN Member States.  Since its first meeting was held in April 2008, all 193 UN member States have been reviewed twice within the first and second UPR cycles.  During the third UPR cycle, States are again expected to spell out steps they have taken to implement recommendations posed during their previous reviews which they committed to follow-up on, as well as to highlight recent human rights developments in the country.

The delegation of Finland will be headed by Ms. Pirkko Mattila, Minister of Social Affairs and Health, Ministry of Social Affairs and Health

The three country representatives serving as rapporteurs (“troika”) for the review of Finland are: Portugal, Saudi Arabia and Tunisia.

The webcast of the session will be at http://webtv.un.org

The list of speakers and all available statements to be delivered during the review of Finland will be posted on the UPR Extranet at the following link:  https://extranet.ohchr.org/sites/upr/Sessions/27session/Finland/Pages/default.aspx

The UPR Working Group is scheduled to adopt the recommendations made to Finland at 17.30 on 5 May.  The State under review may wish to express its positions on recommendations posed to it during their review.  The recommendations will be shared with the media on this day in advance.    

ENDS

To learn more about the Universal Periodic Review, visit: http://www.ohchr.org/en/hr-bodies/upr/upr-main

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