Finland

Finland regularly reports hate crime data to ODIHR. Finland's hate crime laws consist of a general penalty enhancement provision. Reported police data include discrimination and defamation offences, which fall outside the OSCE definition of hate crime, although these can be disaggregated. Data on the numbers of prosecutions and sentenced cases are only reported for discrimination cases. Hate crime data are collected by the Police University College of Finland's Research Department, the Interior Ministry, the Prosecutor's Office, the Ministry of Justice and Statistics Finland. Finland conducts regular victimization surveys to measure unreported hate crime.

Hate crime data collection in Finland
Support for hate crime victims in Finland

OFFICIAL DATA

Year Hate crimes recorded by police Prosecuted Sentenced
2020 1177 48 42
2019 900 22 17
2018 880 55 21
2017 1497 63 37
2016 1311 N/A N/A
2015 1704 Not available Not available
2014 954 Not available Not available
2013 904 Not available Not available
2012 836 38 12
2011 1418 29 12
2010 1407 38 Not available
2009 1580 41 Not available

About 2012 Data

    Unlike in previous years, the 2012 police figures do not include crimes of defamation, other hate speech crimes and crimes of discrimination.
    Prosecution and sentencing figures only include crimes of ethnic agitation, aggravated ethnic agitation, discrimination, work discrimination and extortiate discrimination.

Incidents reported by civil society, international organizations and the Holy See

Reports

Anti-LGBTI hate crime

SETA reported two physical assaults, one against participants in a pride event in Helsinki and one against a speaker affiliated with the event who was attacked with pepper spray.

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INTERNATIONAL REPORTS

Racist and xenophobic hate crime

The UN Human Rights Council, in its Universal Periodic Review, encouraged Finland to continue its efforts to ensure racially motivated crimes are promptly identified, investigated and prosecuted.

Anti-LGBTI hate crime

During his visit to Finland, Nils Muižnieks, the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, welcomed the specific prohibition on hate crimes based on a bias against sexual orientation and encouraged the inclusion of grounds based on bias against gender identity.

KEY OBSERVATION

ODIHR observes that Finland has not reported information on the numbers of prosecuted or sentenced hate crime cases to ODIHR.