Finland
Recent stories
Helsinki school class segregated by mother tongue
The Aurinkolahti comprehensive school in the Helsinki suburb of Vuosaari has been found guilty by the National Discrimination Tribunal of discrimination as it formed school classes on the basis of the language of immigrant pupils' mother tongue.
2 March 2006 (114 words)
Municipal elections
In the municipal elections held in October 2004, in which the Social Democrats emerged as the largest party in the country with 24 per cent of the vote, the extreme right True Finns modestly increased their share of the vote from 0.7 per cent to 0.9 per cent.
27 October 2004 (58 words)
Russian immigrants face more racism than other groups
According to new research by the Academy of Finland, Russian immigrants feel far more alienated in Finland than their Estonian counterparts and ethnic Finnish immigrants.
15 October 2004 (84 words)
Prime minister's father speaks out of turn
The National Bureau of Investigation has decided that it will not pursue a criminal investigation of Professor Tatu Vanhanen, the father of Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen, for his recent racist remarks.
16 August 2004 (143 words)
Allegations of police racism
Vaantaaa: concerns about police treatment of Somalis
29 July 2003 (107 words)
Demonstration leads to IOM office closure
The Helsinki offices of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) was forced to close for a day on 11 October when angry demonstrators constucted a 'temporary counter-office' where it distributed information about the IOM, how it controls migration and acts as a middle-man for inhuman deportation.
11 October 2002 (86 words)
Immigrant labour - exploited but vital
The Labour minister, Tarja Filatov, says that Finland needs to expand its immigrant workforce because one million workers out of a population of 5.
17 September 2002 (188 words)
Finnish-Russian border cooperation
In February, the Russian Federal Border Service and the Finnish Border Protection Service agreed continued cooperation and joint operations on the Russia-Finland border.
1 October 2001 (86 words)
Debate on racial violence follows youth clash
President Tarja Halonen has condemned violence at an incident which was actually caught on television and sparked a national debate about racism.
1 April 2001 (82 words)
Government plans action against discrimination
The government is preparing a plan of action to combat racism and proposes the creation of a new body to monitor discrimination.
1 April 2001 (112 words)
Race, the press and HIV
The trial of Steven Thomas, an American black accused of manslaughter after knowingly infecting 12 Finnish women with HIV, has become an explosive race issue after police issued his picture to the press.
1 August 1997 (235 words)
Victim Finns see no racism
An article in the Guardian focuses on the background to racial violence in Finland.
1 October 1996 (178 words)
Nordic mission to Somalia
A Nordic mission of four civil servants from Finland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden was sent to Somalia for a few weeks to investigate whether rejected Somalian asylum-seekers can be deported back to Somalia or not.
1 March 1996 (211 words)
Tampere police press conference to dispel immigrant-crime fears
Tampere city police organised a press conference in order to prove that immigrants do not commit more crimes than Finns.
1 January 1996 (149 words)
Skinhead violence in Joensuu
Skinheads have been harassing black people in Joensuu, including an American black basketball player for a local team.
1 January 1996 (185 words)
Skinhead attacks increase in Helsinki
Police in Helsinki say they are concerned about the rise in the number of skinhead attacks against immigrants as Helsinki becomes a base for skinheads from across the country.
1 June 1995 (95 words)
Iraqi asylum-seekers in Estonian prisons brought to Finland
Finnish refugee and border control officers brought 88 Iraqi refugees including Kurds and Arabs from Estonia, where they had been in prison, some for periods ranging from nine months to two years.
1 April 1995 (126 words)
Ombudsman criticises officers at Helsinki harbour after expulsion of Kurds
The parliamentary ombudsman has criticised passport officers at Helsinki harbour following two cases that involved the expulsion of five Kurdish asylum-seekers.
1 April 1995 (241 words)
Finland undecided on EU 'burden sharing' initiative
The Chief of the Office for Aliens' Affairs of the Ministry of the Interior has said that the government is undecided on the Finnish response to the idea, being discussed throughout the European Union, that the burden of refugees should be spread more equally among all member states.
1 April 1995 (201 words)
Russian soldier given asylum
The Appeals Court has granted a Russian soldier who deserted a residence permit.
1 March 1994 (109 words)
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