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 2014 Data

    The police also records criminal forms of intolerance other than hate crimes, such as defamation, other hate speech offences and criminal discrimination. These data are reported to ODIHR but are not included in the overall figure or in the breakdown below. Prosecution and sentencing data reported to ODIHR only consist of crimes of ethnic agitation, aggravated ethnic agitation, discrimination, work discrimination and extortionate discrimination, and are not, therefore, included in the overall figure.

National developments

The Ministry of the Interior completed a two-year project to combat racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and other forms of intolerance, including hate crime and hate speech. The project developed indicators for measuring inter-cultural and community relations, and tested good practices to prevent conflicts and build confidence. Partners from Sweden and Northern Ireland participated in the project. In addition to the framework of indicators, a conference was organized and three publications were drafted: "A Toolkit to Promote Good Relations", "A Report on the Prevention of Xenophobia and Social Risks" and anti-racist material prepared by Sweden. Reports are available in Finnish and Swedish.

A survey concerning discrimination and hate crime targeting Roma was conducted in 2014. The results can be found here.

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

Download incident data

Reports

Anti-LGBTI hate crime

ILGA-Europe and Seta reported two incidents of threats and harassment. One incident involved a gay student who was repeatedly harassed physically and sexually, leading him to attempt to take his own life. In the other incident, two gay men were threatened with a gun.

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INTERNATIONAL REPORTS

No information is available.

KEY OBSERVATION

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