The Finnish League for Human Rights: statement on the implementation of the Istanbul Convention in Finland
The Finnish League for Human Rights (hereinafter FLHR) is a religiously and politically independent human rights organisation. Their principal objective is to monitor the human rights situation in Finland.
There has been no developments in regards to criminalisation of FGM in Finland. Between 2021-2022 the process of assessing the need of a specific criminalisation of FGM in Finland took place at the Ministry for Justice. The process started after a citizen’s initiative demanding specific criminalisation had been accepted in the parliament. FLHR was part of the working group.
Unfortunately, the working group did not propose amendments to the provisions of the criminal code in its report published in February 2023. The FLHR left an opposing statement in the final report, where they stated that Finland must specifically criminalise all forms of FGM.
Additionally, in March 2023 the FLHR coordinated a joined statement by 35 non-governmental organisations demanding specific criminalisation of all forms of FGM. The FLHR also sent its statement to the Committee of the Parties on the implementation of the Istanbul Convention in Finland and shared its views on FGM and honour-based violence.
The English text of the statement can be found on their website: FLHR-Istanbul-Convention-2023.pdf (ihmisoikeusliitto.fi) or below.