Owing to the absence of a tracking system among prosecution and the courts, the number of indictments and sentences presented here may be much lower than the actual numbers.
Cases of defamation, discrimination and incitement offences, which were reported to ODIHR, are not included in the breakdown below as they fall outside the OSCE definition of hate crime.
At the end of 2023, the Finnish police updated the guidelines on "Identifying, Investigating and Recording a Suspected Hate Crime or a Crime with Elements of a Hate Crime in Police Work (POL-2023-127636)". The updated guidelines clarify and strengthen the procedures for recognizing and handling hate crimes within police operations.
From 2023 to 2024, Finland's Ministry of Justice coordinated the EU-funded Peer Action against Hate project. The project partners included the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health Finland, Seta LGBTI Rights in Finland, the Centre for Peace Studies (Croatia), and the Irish Network Against Racism. One of the project's work packages was titled "Filling the gaps in victim support services". The objective of the work package was to increase knowledge of support mechanisms and reporting channels, to strengthen the expertise of professionals in addressing hate crime and harmful prejudice, identify the needs of victims of hate crime, and to support the authorities by enhancing awareness of the available materials and tools.
Actions of the work package included a mapping of victims’ needs, national round-table discussions, and training sessions. The training sessions in Croatia, Finland, and Ireland directly strengthened the capabilities of professionals and civil society actors by providing tailored knowledge and practical tools to address hate crimes and support victims.
Additionally, the ODIHR-led Training of Trainers (ToT) further amplified the project's impact by equipping participants with methodologies to sustain peer learning and disseminate knowledge within their communities. In addition to the training session, the Ministry of Justice created an eLearning tool for professionals working with children on how to prevent and combat discrimination and hate incidents. The eLearning tool is available for everyone for free. Also, the renovated equality.fi website includes information for hate crime victims.
The figures presented here cover the following grounds: race/colour, ethnicity/national origin, citizenship and language. Hate crimes committed with an anti-Roma bias were also reported under this category; however, they were separated and are presented in the 'anti-Roma hate crime' category.
Official data for hate crimes motivated by bias against lesbian, gay and bisexual people (143 hate crimes) and by bias against transgender people (34 hate crimes) were reported separately, but are presented together here.
ODIHR recognizes Finland's efforts to strengthen police procedures for recognizing and handling hate crimes. Based on the available information, ODIHR observes that Finland would benefit from raising awareness among and building the capacity of criminal justice professionals to address and record hate crimes.
ODIHR recalls that in Ministerial Council Decision 9/09, participating States committed to introducing or further developing professional training and capacity-building activities for law enforcement, prosecution, and judicial officials dealing with hate crimes. ODIHR stands ready to support Finland in meeting its relevant commitments through the provision of comprehensive resources and tailored capacity-building assistance for prosecution and the judiciary.
For 2024, ODIHR received reports of hate incidents in Finland from the following civil society organizations:
- European Association of Jehovah's Witnesses
- International Institute for Religious Freedom (IIRF)
- The Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians in Europe (OIDAC)
To learn more about these organizations, visit the Contributors page.
All incidents submitted by the above organizations have been analysed by ODIHR. Those that were broadly considered to be hate crimes within the OSCE definition (criminal offence committed with a bias motive) are listed in the tables below according to the bias motivation category. Some incidents involved multiple biases and may be listed in multiple categories
ODIHR’s insightsFor 2024, ODIHR received reports of three hate incidents that took place in Finland in the following bias motivation categories: anti-Christian and anti-Muslim. ODIHR observes that only a small number of incidents in Finland were reported. ODIHR highlights that all of the reported incidents were attacks against property. It should be noted that ODIHR did not receive any reporting on Finland relating to anti-Roma, anti-Semitic, anti-LGBTI, racist and xenophobic, gender-based, other religion or belief, or disability hate incidents. This indicates potential gaps in the information reported here. |
Please note that incidents reported here are based on voluntary civil society submissions and as such might not reflect the actual number of incidents or the most targeted communities in Finland.
To address under-reporting, ODIHR encourages any civil society organizations or groups that monitor hate incidents in Finland to report these to ODIHR at hatecrimereport@odihr.pl.
To export an Excel sheet with summaries of all incidents from Finland click here and search by year and country.