Finland

The Government Action Plan for Combating Racism and Promoting Good Relations between Population Groups was published by the Ministry of Justice in January 2022. The Action Plan is based on a situation assessment, and it includes eight key objectives and 52 measures to be carried out in different branches of government in 2021–2023. The Action Plan aims to dismantle structural inequalities in society, promote non-discrimination in Finnish working life, strengthen the authorities' equality competences, raise awareness of racism and its various forms – including hate crime – and develop research and data collection on the matter. The programme includes measures to tackle hate crime.

In 2022, the Ministry of Justice continued to implement a two-year project, Osaavat (Competent Actors), funded by the European Commission's Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme. The project aims to strengthen actions to combat hate crimes and harassment, especially by developing the competences of professionals in various fields. Project partners are the Ministry of the Interior, the Office of the Non-Discrimination Ombudsman and the Anti-Racist Forum. The objective of the project is to improve national co-ordination and information exchange, strengthen the competence of professionals, develop data collection and strengthen the role of civil society in work to combat hate crimes. This is done by conceptualizing a Centre of Excellence for work against hate crimes and discrimination, and by piloting the Centre's activities. The project will also assess the functioning of the concept and activities of the Centre of Excellence. The project also aims to strengthen the competence of authorities in the fields of education and law enforcement. To this end, the Ministry of Interior organized 11 training sessions for police (one in each police district). Furthermore, a training for police chiefs was organized and material published.

In 2022, hate crimes against the Russian minority in Finland were specifically monitored first on a weekly basis and later on a monthly basis. The monitoring has shown that there has been a slight increase in cases against the minority due to Russia's military attack on Ukraine.

On 1 January 2023, an amendment to the Criminal Code of Finland entered into force, adding "gender" to the list of protected characteristics.