Finland | HCRW

Finland regularly reports hate crime data to ODIHR and has conducted victimization surveys to measure unreported hate crime incidents. The Finnish police closely co-operate with the Finnish Human Rights League, the Finnish Red Cross and Finnish Victim Support to develop a co-ordinated response to combat hate crimes. These organizations, along with the national police and other key authorities, form a network tasked by Finland's Ministry of Justice with monitoring hate crime in Finland and developing effective preventative measures. In 2017, Finland implemented ODIHR's Training Against Hate Crimes for Law Enforcement (TAHCLE) programme, training over 1,000 police officers. The programme’s hate crime modules have since been integrated into pre- and in-service training for police.

SELECT YEAR

Download the 2017 hate crime report for Finland

OFFICIAL DATA REPORTED BY STATES

Year	Hate crimes recorded by police	Prosecuted	Sentenced
2023	1,361	49	48
2022	1,094	121	27
2021	1,390	44	30
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 2017 Data

The police also recorded 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. One hundred prosecuted and 62 sentenced cases were originally reported, these numbers also included incidents of hate speech and discrimination which were therefore removed from the totals presented here. Prosecution and sentencing numbers represent only cases flagged by the police as hate crimes.

Hate crime recorded by police

A total of 1556 hate crimes were originally reported to ODIHR. The number of crime reports was 1165, as one crime report can include several hate crimes. This number included cases of ethnic agitation, defamation and discrimination, which were removed and are not presented here. For the first time, and with the consent of the Roma community, hate crime against Roma people are included as a new category.

By bias motivation
By type of crime

Download official data

National developments

Based on a MoU with ODIHR, the Finnish police have been implementing the TAHCLE programme. Around 900 officers have received training on hate crimes to date. Training events have contributed to a measured increase in identification of hate motive (24 per cent in 2016 to 39 per cent in 2017).

The Ministry of Interior increased funding to address hate crime, which was identified as a priority area in the Police Strategy in 2016. The funding was used, among other things, to appoint 25 hate crime specialists to Helsinki Police Department.

Since December 2017, the Ministry of Justice has been co-ordinating an EU-funded project called Against Hate. One of the main objectives of the project is to further develop the national reporting mechanisms, especially regarding statistics on prosecution and sentencing of hate crime. The project also aims at enhancing the capacity of the police, prosecutors and judges to act against hate crime and hate speech, and to develop support services for victims of hate crime.

As part of the EU-funded project PROXIMITY, the Ministry of Justice is supporting the capacities of local authorities and especially municipal policing to prevent and identify hate crimes and other forms of intolerance.

KEY OBSERVATION

ODIHR observes that Finland has met most OSCE commitments on hate crime data collection and reporting.

OVERVIEW OF INCIDENTS REPORTED BY CIVIL SOCIETY

Total Incidents
Targeted properties
Type of property attacks

CIVIL SOCIETY INCIDENT SUMMARIES

Anti-Muslim hate crime

Date	Type of incident	Source	Description
2017-06	Attacks against property	SETA	Show info
2017-08	Violent attacks against people	SETA	Show info

Anti-Christian hate crime

Date	Type of incident	Source	Description
2017-01	Violent attacks against people	Jehovah's Witnesses	Show info
2017-08	Violent attacks against people	UNHCR	Show info
2017-06	Threats/Harassment	OIDAC	Show info

Gender-based hate crime

Date	Type of incident	Source	Description
2017-08	Violent attacks against people	UNHCR	Show info

Anti-LGBTI hate crime

Date	Type of incident	Source	Description
2017-06	Attacks against property	ILGA-Europe Seta ry	Show info
2017-11	Threats/Harassment	Seta ry	Show info
2017-12	Attacks against property	Seta ry	Show info
2017	Threats/Harassment	Seta ry	Show info
2017-12	Violent attacks against people	ILGA-Europe Seta ry	Show info

INTERNATIONAL REPORTS

No information is available.