LEGAL FRAMEWORK

The constitution prohibits discrimination based on religion “without an acceptable reason.” It stipulates freedom of religion and conscience, including the right to profess and practice a religion, to express one’s convictions, and to be a member or decline to be a member of a religious community. It states no one is under obligation to participate in the practice of a religion.

The law criminalizes blasphemy or the “breach of the sanctity of religion,” which includes “blaspheming against God,” publicly defaming or desecrating to offend something a religious community holds sacred, and disturbing worship or funeral ceremonies. Violators are subject to fines or imprisonment of up to six months. The amount of a fine is dependent both on the severity of the offense and the financial standing of the offender. Authorities have occasionally applied the law in addition to charges of incitement.

It is considered a crime of “ethnic agitation” if any person makes available or spreads to the public an expression of opinion or any other message that threatens, defames, or insults a certain group on numerous bases, including religion. This includes the distribution of hate material intended to incite discrimination in print or in broadcast media, books, or online newspapers and journals. Punishment includes a fine based on the severity of the defamation or insult or up to two years’ imprisonment. If the ethnic agitation, including that based on religion, involves incitement or enticement to serious violence, a person may be charged with aggravated ethnic agitation, which carries a punishment of imprisonment of between four months and four years. Hate speech is not a separate criminal offense but may constitute grounds for an aggravated sentence for other offenses. In principle, any act that is considered a crime in legislation may be a hate crime, depending on the underlying motive. The victim does not need to be a part of a defined group for a crime to be considered a hate crime; it is enough that the perpetrator assumes the victim to be a member of the group.

The law prohibits religious discrimination and establishes the position of a nondiscrimination ombudsman, who is responsible for supervising compliance with the law and investigating individual cases of discrimination and has the power to issue fines in noncriminal cases. The ombudsman advocates on behalf of victims, offers counseling, promotes conciliation, and lobbies for legislation, among other duties and authorities. The ombudsman may also refer cases to the National Nondiscrimination and Equality Tribunal (NDET), which also enforces fines issued by the ombudsman and assists plaintiffs seeking compensation in court. Individuals alleging discrimination may alternatively pursue legal action through the NDET, which may issue binding decisions that may be appealed to the courts. Litigants may appeal the decisions of the NDET and district courts to the higher Administrative Court. During the year, the nondiscrimination ombudsman was mandated to reduce employment discrimination in parallel with the Occupational Safety and Health Authority, following changes in the Non-Discrimination Act. The amendments to the law focused on the prevention of discrimination, including discrimination based on religious affiliation and practice, and the promotion of equality in the workplace.

Individuals and religious groups may exist, associate, and practice their religion without registering with the government. To be eligible to apply for government funds, however, religious groups other than the ELC and the Orthodox Church must register with the Patent and Registration Office as a religious community. To register as a religious community, a group must have at least 20 members, the public practice of religion as its purpose, and a set of rules to guide its activities. A registered religious community is a legal entity that may employ persons, purchase property, and make legal claims. A religious group may also acquire legal status by registering as an association with a nonprofit purpose that is not contrary to law or proper behavior. Registered religious communities and nonprofit associations are generally exempt from taxes. According to the Ministry of Education and Culture (MEC), as of August, there were 169 registered religious communities, most of which had multiple congregations. The ELC and the Orthodox Church are the primary religious institutions in the country. Of the other 167 registered religious communities, 73 are Christian, 57 Islamic, 16 Buddhist, four Hindu, and four Jewish. A total of 13 registered religious communities represented other faiths.

According to the MEC, several additional religious communities are organized under the name the Pentecostal Church of Finland but have registered as associations and not as separate religious communities. Similarly, other organizations, such as revivalist congregations of the ELC, have independent theological or functional operations but have remained administratively under the ELC and have not registered as independent religious communities. Persons may belong to more than one religious group.

Citizens who belong to either the ELC or Finnish Orthodox Church pay a church tax, collected with their income tax payments. Parishes set their respective church tax rates separately. Church tax rates generally fall between 1 to 2.1 percent of a member’s income. Those who do not want to pay the tax must terminate their ELC or Orthodox congregation membership. Members may terminate their membership by contacting the official congregation or the local government registration office, either electronically or in person. Local parishes have fiscal autonomy to decide how to use funding received from taxes levied on their members.

Registered religious communities other than the ELC and Finnish Orthodox Church are eligible to apply for state funds in lieu of the church tax. In addition to receiving the church tax, the ELC and Finnish Orthodox Church may also apply for state funds. The law states that registered religious communities that meet the statutory requirements, including ELC and Orthodox congregations, may apply to receive an annual subsidy from the government budget in proportion to the religious community’s percentage of the population.

The law requires the ELC to maintain public cemeteries using its general allocation from state funds and church taxes and to account for monies used for this purpose. Other religious communities and nonreligious foundations may maintain their own cemeteries. All registered religious communities may own and manage property and hire staff, including appointing clergy. The law authorizes the ELC and Finnish Orthodox Church to register births, marriages, and deaths for their members in collaboration with the government Digital and Population Data Services Agency. State registrars do this for other persons.

Parents may determine their child’s religious affiliation if the child is younger than 12. The religious affiliation of children between the ages of 12 and 17 may only be changed by a joint decision of the child and his or her parents or guardian, and the family must pursue specific administrative procedures with their religious community and the local population registration officials to change or terminate the religious affiliation.

All public schools provide religious teaching in accordance with students’ religion. All students must take courses either in religious studies or ethics, with the choice left up to the student. Schools must provide instruction in religions other than the Lutheran faith if there is a minimum of three pupils representing that faith in the municipal region, the religious community in question is registered, and the students’ families belong to the religious community. Municipalities may arrange for students from different schools to take a combined course to meet this requirement. Students who do not belong to a religious group or belong to a religious group for which special instruction is not available may study ethics. Students aged 18 or older may choose to study either the courses pertaining to their religion or the ethics courses. If a student belongs to more than one religious community, the parents decide in which religious education course the student participates.

The national and municipal governments fund private, including religiously based, schools. Despite the name, private schools are in fact completely financially dependent on government funding to ensure equitable education nationwide. Except for international and foreign-language schools, private schools by law may not charge tuition. They do not practice selective admission based on students’ religion.

Religious education focuses on familiarizing students with their own religion, other religions, and on general instruction in ethics. Teachers of religion must have state-mandated training for religious instruction. The state appoints them, and they are not required to belong to any religious community. The National Board of Education provides a series of textbooks about Orthodox and Lutheran Christianity, Catholicism, Judaism, and Islam, as well as a textbook on secular ethics.

Military service is compulsory for men aged 18-60. By law, conscientious objectors, including those who object on religious grounds, may choose alternative civilian service instead of compulsory military service. Conscientious objectors who refuse both military and alternative civilian service may receive custodial sentences in prison or require electronic monitoring for terms of up to 173 days, one-half of the 347 days of alternative civilian service. Regular military service ranges between 165 and 347 days.

The country is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

GOVERNMENT PRACTICES

Abuses Limiting Religious Belief and Expression

Jehovah’s Witnesses expressed objections that persons who refused both military and nonmilitary service continued to be convicted and sentenced to up to six months in prison. The local office of Amnesty International stated in its submission to the country’s Universal Periodic Review by the UN Human Rights Council that alternative nonmilitary service amounted to the country’s longest period of conscripted service, more than double the shortest period of military service, and placed a burden on those who exercised their right to conscientious objection, including those who did so on religious grounds.

On November 14, according to Catholic News Agency, the Helsinki Court of Appeal unanimously dismissed charges for “hate speech and ethnic agitation” against Christian Democrat MP and former interior minister Paivi Rasanen. Rasanen was initially charged after she publicly posted a Bible verse on social media that supported her belief that marriage is between one man and one woman. In the post, she criticized her denomination, the ELC, for partnering with an LGBTQ+ pride event in 2019. Rasanen was previously charged in district court for the same incident and was acquitted in March 2022, after which the state prosecutor appealed the decision and reopened charges, which the Helsinki Court of Appeals also dismissed. Some members of the international Christian community, such as the Alliance Defending Freedom International, expressed concern regarding what they stated was the restriction of religious expression in the case. A member of the Finnish Association for Freedom of Speech and Religion said that the case sent the message that prosecutors should not press charges based on politics.

A National Police Board representative stated in January to the Finnish News Agency that Quran burning in public was not permitted, based on the antiblasphemy law.

On June 13, the Ministry of Justice filed an application to the Supreme Administrative Court to overturn its 2022 decision to register the Blue-Black Movement (Sinimusta Liike), a self-described “radical ethno-nationalist” group with the goal of an ethnically and culturally homogenous Finland, as a political party. The application sought to have the group removed from the country’s register of official political parties. On June 20, domestic news outlet Yle reported that the Satakunta District Court found Blue-Black Movement party chair Tuukka Kuru guilty of ethnic incitement for a 2020 tweet in which he suggested the country criminalize Judaism in a social media post on the topic of circumcision. The court fined Kuru €1,280 ($1,400) and ordered him to delete the offending post.

In February, the parliamentary Constitutional Law Committee voted against some provisions of the proposed Animal Welfare Bill, citing concerns about religious freedom. In March, parliament approved the Animal Welfare Act without imposition of additional restrictions on religious slaughter. Religious leaders noted, however, that they anticipated changes to the law would eventually be proposed again. In 2022, the Ministry of Forestry and Agriculture had proposed changes to animal welfare laws requiring animals to be stunned before slaughter. They included an exemption for hunting but did not exempt religious slaughter. Muslim and Jewish organizations, interfaith dialogue groups, and other religious organizations opposed these legal changes, which would affect kosher and halal practices in the country, and they stated they would potentially violate freedom of religion. NGOs and human rights organizations further stated that the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry did not consider the human rights or potential future economic impacts of the proposed law.

In February, the Ostrobothnia District Court sentenced a man to two years in prison for slaughtering sheep without stunning them first, in breach of the animal welfare laws. The court fined the man €60,000 ($66,000) and banned him from owning, keeping, caring for, or otherwise being responsible for animal welfare in the future. The man stated he slaughtered the animals according to halal practices. On February 14, Yle reported that the slaughter method used by the defendant was purported to be halal but was not the halal method. The law states that animals must be stunned before slaughter but provides a religious exception for animals that were stunned at the same time as bloodletting began.

Abuses Involving the Ability of Individuals to Engage in Religious Activities Alone or In Community with Others

A local religious freedom advocate noted issues with access to religious leadership within prisons, stating for example, that imams visiting prisons to perform religious services were compensated at a lower rate than Christian priests. Prisons did not provide halal meals but did provide meals without pork, which meets the religious dietary restrictions of some inmates. The advocate noted that one-third of inmates in the Vantaa prison do not eat pork, and the government generally respected this dietary restriction. Leaders of minority religious communities stated that there were no chaplains for religious communities other than the ELC in hospitals and in the military. A local activist noted reports of hospital patients requesting last rites from an imam being offered services from a Christian priest instead.

The government was involved in several issues surrounding online speech, some of which were directed at religious practice. On July 21, a citizen’s initiative demanding the resignation of Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister Riikka Purra obtained over 120,000 signatures in reaction to a 2019 blog post on Purra’s personal website after it was republished in the media: “There are unidentifiable black sacks walking around the capital region who can only be identified as people because they are usually dragging small people behind them,” referring to women wearing burqas. Local media outlets uncovered the comment in July, in addition to several other comments deemed controversial dating from 2008.

National Coalition Party MP Atte Kaleva tweeted on July 17, “Here in Finland, we consider it good manners that one walks the streets so that their face can be seen unless there is some special medical reason not to do so. If one cannot accept that, there is only one alternative: You either behave like is customary in the country you reside in or you leave the country.” In September, 10,000 persons took part in a protest against the statements, which involved members of the newly formed coalition government.

On July 11, President Sauli Niinisto called for the government to adopt a clear zero-tolerance policy towards racism, and the government requested public statements from religious communities on the incidents. A Muslim community leader noted that the government reached out to other religious groups for a statement on the string of controversies, but only sought out a statement from the Muslim community after a “Twitter storm” of requests to be included in the call for public statements. In response, several local Muslim communities and organizations issued a press release condemning Purra for her 2019 blog comment. The press release stated, “Finland has a religious freedom law according to which everyone can practice their own religion. It includes the freedom to dress according to one’s religion.”

A Muslim community leader remarked that Muslims in Finland were largely silent in response to what the leader said was the apparent rise in religious discrimination due to a lack of public platforms and low government involvement in the community. The community leader cited the absence of a proactive solicitation of public response from the Muslim community to the Minister’s and MPs comments as an example.

According to civil society sources, Ministry of Social Affairs and Health guidelines for immigrants’ health and wellbeing discouraged the circumcision of males and continued to withhold public funding for such procedures. In its guidelines, which were recommendations rather than requirements per prior Supreme Court rulings, the ministry stated only licensed physicians should perform nonmedical circumcision of boys, the child’s guardians should be informed of the risks and irreversibility of the procedure, and the procedure should not be carried out without the consent of boys old enough to understand the procedure. The ministry termed nonmedical male circumcision to be a violation of child bodily integrity and self-determination. Members of the Muslim and Jewish communities continued to express disagreement with the guidelines. Muslim community leaders stated that because circumcision was only available through a small number of private clinics and was not part of the publicly funded health care system, many families had to travel abroad to have their sons circumcised, and this was a heavy financial burden to some communities.

Religious freedom activists noted continued opposition to nonmedical male circumcision at the governmental level and referred to parliament’s consideration of a ban on nonmedical male circumcision in 2019 and 2020. During the year, members of a Ministry of Justice working group tasked with developing legislation that explicitly bans female genital mutilation (FGM) argued for the inclusion of restrictions on nonmedical male circumcision in the same draft bill. The law does not prohibit FGM; rather, it is charged under the criminal code on assault. Sources reported that the working group was divided over whether to include nonmedical male circumcision in the draft legislation. According to sources, two members of the working group faced internal Justice Ministry disciplinary action for allegedly overstepping their mandate by arguing within the working group for the inclusion of nonmedical male circumcision. According to Yle, the disciplinary action was dismissed.

A February report by the working group recommended that no changes be made to the laws on FGM. Jewish and Muslim community leaders stated that the decision was disappointing, both for failing to explicitly ban FGM in the criminal code and for conflating FGM with nonmedical male circumcision.

Representatives of Jehovah’s Witnesses reported that approximately 300 Jehovah’s Witnesses from Russia applied for asylum in Finland due to fears of extrajudicial imprisonment based on their religious affiliation. Jehovah’s Witnesses representatives stated that the Finnish Immigration Service (FIS) processed 225 of the 300 applications and granted asylum to fewer than half of the processed applications. Jehovah’s Witnesses representatives reported that the majority of those granted asylum were unable to obtain work authorization. Approximately 75 asylum cases of Jehovah’s Witnesses from Russia were in process at the FIS as of September. Eleven cases were appealed to the UN Human Rights Committee, with one appeal cancelled when the government granted a residence permit; the other10 appeal cases were granted interim residency status.

According to representatives of Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat Finland, the FIS continued to deny most asylum applications for Ahmadi Muslims from Pakistan.

According to a senior military officer, the military continued to maintain a zero-tolerance policy regarding hate speech and hate crimes, including religiously motivated incidents. According to senior officials, there were no reports of religiously motivated hate crimes during the year. For past suspected acts violating equality with potential religious motivations, unit commanders initiated investigations of reported incidents. If a commander judged the infraction to be minor, he or she administered a formal reprimand or other punishment. For more serious offenses, the commander reported the investigation up the chain of command, and military authorities might refer the case to civilian courts. The officer also stated that the military accommodated, per regulation, religious dietary needs and fasting requirements and granted religious leave and prayer time to all personnel equally. Some religious community leaders raised concerns that there were gaps in accommodating all religious dietary needs, particularly for service members observing strict kosher or halal diets, and they said that it was difficult to find information on accommodations. Religious leaders said that additional chaplains representing additional religious communities were necessary to ensure appropriate dietary and leave accommodations.

Several Muslim groups reported that there continued to be a shortage of appropriate cemetery space and that they faced political difficulties associated with purchasing, funding, and maintaining burial sites. One community organizer said that 16 cities in the south had rejected bids for the establishment of an Islamic cemetery. Members of the Ahmadi Muslim community said that discussions for establishing a Muslim cemetery in Turku collapsed because the city said it would limit the cemetery only to the 20 to 30 Ahmadis living in the city and would not open it to additional Ahmadis from other cities or other Muslims. Another Muslim community leader remarked that separate burial sites segregate Muslims from the rest of the country and that it could be difficult to travel to cemeteries outside the city to visit the graves of deceased loved ones.

Religious leaders, education officials, and educators discussed what they stated were shortcomings in the national curriculum, teacher training, and teaching for religious education. While the National Board of Education continued to issue a basic curriculum for Islamic education, municipalities had the option to decline its use, sometimes creating gaps in religious education. Muslim community leaders said that some teachers of Islamic education were not practicing Muslims, were unfamiliar with some religious tenets, or were not appropriately trained to teach Islam. While education officials said that being a practicing Muslim should not be a prerequisite for teaching Islamic education classes, several officials also agreed that there was a lack of understanding of the ethnic, cultural, and social heterogeneity within the Muslim population.

Muslim community members also raised concerns that although the Islamic education curriculum addressed “the diversity of Islam,” the actual curriculum focused on a “general” conception of Islam that could lead to discrimination and the stigmatization of some students who hold minority religious tenets.

The nondiscrimination ombudsman reported an uptick in reports of discrimination based on the religious teaching law. A representative of the Ombudsman’s office attributed the rise to an October 2022 case in which a kindergarten student in northern Finland was awarded compensation in the amount of €1,500 ($1,700), in a settlement agreement, following the Ombudsman’s assessment that the student was not offered an alternative to a religious activity organized by the kindergarten with a church.

Abuses Involving Discrimination or Unequal Treatment

The government continued to provide grants to registered religious communities based on the number of members, and the MEC administered the grants. In 2022, the government allocated €119 million ($131 million) to the ELC and €2.6 million ($2.9 million) to the Finnish Orthodox Church. The MEC allotted €824,000 ($910,000) to all other registered religious organizations. This sum included €674,000 ($745,000), distributed across communities, based on the number of registered members, and €150,000 ($166,000) to the Helsinki Jewish Congregation to continue its investments in security at facilities and events, following antisemitic incidents.

Leaders of minority religious groups indicated concern regarding the funding allocation, with several Muslim community leaders noting that congregants’ lack of cultural understanding of or opposition to registering their religious affiliation affected the amount of funding for the Muslim community. The community leaders noted that many immigrants were not familiar with the practice of registering as members of a religious faith and might refrain from registration based on fear that naming themselves as part of a minority religious community could lead to future religious discrimination. Without the actual number of minority religious community members reflected in the official government register, these communities did not receive the amount of government funding concomitant with their size.

The MEC awarded €80,000 ($88,000) to promote interfaith dialogue, consistent with funding in 2022. Three organizations split the funding: the CORE Forum, composed of representatives from the largest religious denominations; Fokus, an interfaith and intercultural organization; and Ad Astra, an organization promoting dialogue, interfaith projects, and inclusivity for children in schools, preschools, and daycare facilities.

Other Developments Affecting Religious Freedom

In a speech at a Holocaust remembrance ceremony in January, then Minister for European Affairs Tytti Tuppurainen stated that country should change the official title of its January 27 observance (established in 2001 as Memorial Day for Victims of Persecution) to more explicitly recognize the unique horror of the Holocaust. European Commission Coordinator for Combating Antisemitism and Fostering Jewish Life Katharina Von Schnurbein echoed the call for a name change and said the country should do more to counter Holocaust denial and distortion. The Government Statement to Parliament on Non-Discrimination, adopted by parliament on September 8, stated that “International Holocaust Remembrance Day will be observed in accordance with international practices.” Prime Minister Petteri Orpo committed to changing the name of the Remembrance Day for the Victims of Persecutions at the November 6 memorial event for the eight Jews deported from Finland during the Holocaust.

In May, the European Court of Human Rights unanimously decided that the country’s Supreme Administrative Court did not violate the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ right to freedom of religion in a 2018 ruling. The court’s 2018 decision held that the group’s practice of collecting citizens’ private data, such as family relationships or medical conditions, was illegal without prior consent. Yle reported that Jehovah’s Witnesses’ representatives stated their missionaries’ notes taken during door-to-door proselytizing did not constitute protected data collection.

In August, National Coalition Party MP Ben Zyskowicz – the first Jewish MP in Finland – proposed banning the swastika during preparation talks for the upcoming government announcement on the promotion of equality and nondiscrimination in Finnish society. An August 31 government statement to parliament on promoting equality, gender equality, and nondiscrimination in Finnish society stated that “the possibility of criminalizing the use of at least Nazi and communist symbols to promote ideology will be investigated.” Jewish community leaders had lobbied for a ban on the antisemitic symbol in the past. Politicians discussed the proposal, but according to Yle there was no consensus on the proposal.

In September, the government announced it would grant the country’s Jewish congregations €400,000 ($442,000) annually for security measures, compared with €150,000 ($166,000) in 2022. The president of the Helsinki Jewish Community, Yaron Nadbornik, said that harassment and vandalism against Jewish congregations and their places of worship had increased over the previous decade and that investments in security technology, such as automatic surveillance systems, as well as in security personnel, had become crucial for the continued safety of the congregations. Jewish community leaders noted a significant rise in antisemitic activity in the country following the Hamas attacks against Israel in October and Israeli security force actions that followed.

The country is a member of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.