1655 hate crimes were originally reported to ODIHR. The number of crime reports was 1079, as one crime report can include several of hate crimes. This number included cases of Ethnic Agitation, Defamation and Discrimination, which were removed and are not presented here.
The National Police Board of Finland signed an agreement with ODIHR to implement the Training Against Hate Crime for Law Enforcement (TAHCLE) programme.
A three-day training programme was created by the Police University College and carried out in November 2016. Prosecutors and judges also participated in hate crime trainings.
A working group was created within the Ministry of Interior to develop a holistic programme against hate crime.
In 2016, a working group within the National Police Board issued a report on combating hate crime. One of its recommendations was to create a special unit within the police force on countering hate crimes online, which would be supported by a nationwide network of dedicated police officers.
The figure presented here covers the following grounds: "race/colour", "ethnicity/national origin, citizenship and language".
Official data were reported separately for LGB (44 hate crimes) and transgender (12 hate crimes) hate crime but are presented together here.
In its report, the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) for Finland, recommended that the authorities take measures to reduce the number of anti-religious hate crimes, ensure that hate crimes are effectively investigated and that law enforcement, security and judicial authorities be trained and have guidelines to address hate crimes against immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees.
ODIHR observes that Finland has not reported information on the numbers of prosecuted and sentenced hate crimes to ODIHR.