Statement regarding the government’s communication on the promotion of equality, equity and non-discrimination in Finnish society

UN Youth of Finland were asked to give a statement in support of the working group preparing the government’s communication on the promotion of equality, equity and non-discrimination in Finnish society. In particular, a comment was requested on the ongoing and Equal Finland action program. You can read the full statement below.

 

Statement regarding the government’s communication on the promotion of equality, equity and non-discrimination in Finnish society

UN Youth of Finland is grateful for the opportunity to issue a statement regarding the government’s communication on the promotion of equality, equity and non-discrimination in Finnish society. In the opinion of the UN youth, all the goals of the Equal Finland program are of the utmost importance, but in our opinion, special attention should be focused on the realization of goals 1. (Identify and dismantle the unequal structures of society) and 3. (Strengthen the equality competence of the authorities at different levels). We believe that the realization of these goals will have a positive effect on the realization of other goals as well. We do however emphasize that there is no room to pull back on any of the other goals either. Primarily, we also remind the government of the human rights treaties that bind it and the importance of human rights-based policy.

Also, we call for a perspective that takes into account the individual situations of specific groups in the implementation and evaluation of measures. For example, racism and discrimination experienced in youth has a particularly large impact on young people’s belief in the future, as well as on trust and the experience of belonging in society. Since the members of certain groups of people are experts in their own situation, we strongly urge to involve the groups in the planning and implementation of the measures, as for example in the program’s measure 18 (Developing new ways to promote the participation of minority youth (e.g. Roma youth) in monitoring the implementation of Finland’s human rights obligations) has successfully included.

In addition, we would like to point out that promoting the goals of sustainable development in accordance with the Leave No One Behind (LNOB) principle (measure 51 of the program) is an effective way to promote the realization of equality. It must also be remembered that the sustainability gap itself, combined with the effects of climate change and biodiversity loss, will increasingly threaten the realization of human rights and equality.