Background

Finland formally notified the UN of its intention to withdraw from the Ottawa Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, putting civilian lives at risk. Under the terms of the Convention, the withdrawal will take effect six months after notification, in January 2026.

Economic, social and cultural rights

In February, the government reported that the number of people experiencing homelessness had increased for the first time in over a decade. The year saw a high number of evictions and concerning increases in people struggling with housing costs and in need of housing-related services.¹

In September, despite civil society warnings of risks to marginalized people, the government announced further cuts to social assistance and social housing. As predicted, these cuts had a disproportionately negative impact on the rights of marginalized groups such as people with disabilities, especially those with low incomes.²

Refugees’ and migrants’ rights

Citing Russia’s “instrumentalization” of people seeking asylum, the Finnish government continued the closure of all crossing points on the Finnish-Russian border.

In June, parliament extended until 31 December 2026 the emergency act allowing the government to limit asylum applications at the border, grant border guards powers to prevent entry, including by force, and deny any genuine possibility of appeal.

The government continued to introduce legislative amendments rolling back protections in migration and asylum policies. These included compromising the fairness of asylum proceedings by no longer checking the accuracy of minutes of asylum interviews; restricting the rights of people who had received international protection to visit the country from which they had fled; imposing discriminatory requirements for citizenship; and tightening conditions for permanent residence permits.

Freedom of peaceful assembly

Police used disproportionate force during a May Day protest in the city of Tampere by continuing to launch kinetic impact projectiles at a protester after they no longer posed a danger to others. A passer-by was also hit.

In June, in the capital Helsinki, an observer monitoring a climate protest was assaulted by a passer-by in front of police officers, who failed to intervene.

In July, in the town of Jyväskylä, police informed four climate activists that they had been subjected to surveillance for four days the previous summer. The court permission allowing surveillance was based on inaccurate police information. A court of appeal upheld the decision in November.

In September, police refused a money collection permit to an NGO advocating for low-carbon technology because one of its board members had been fined in 2023 in connection with peaceful protests with another climate movement.

Right to a healthy environment

In January, the Supreme Administrative Court dismissed an appeal by NGOs regarding the government’s lack of climate action. In June, the government’s annual climate report confirmed that Finland had failed to meet the targets of its Climate Act due to diminishing carbon sinks caused largely by intensive logging. In September, the Ministry of the Environment reported that biodiversity had continued to deteriorate. It was feared that Finland would again fail to meet its fair-share obligations to provide climate finance to developing countries due to cuts in the development cooperation budget.

Sexual and gender-based violence

Research published in March revealed that 61% of women living in Finland did not trust the justice system’s ability to treat victims of rape fairly. Marginalized and racialized women expressed even deeper distrust towards the police due to experiences of racism and discrimination.

LGBTI people’s rights

In March, parliament adopted a national citizen’s initiative to ban conversion practices. The minister of justice responded that due to other priorities the ministry would not have time to prepare the necessary legislation.

Indigenous Peoples’ rights

The long-awaited reform of the Act on the Sámi Parliament came into force in August. It strengthened the Sámi people’s right to self-determination and free, prior and informed consent.³

1. Finland: “I Have to Choose Whether to Buy Food or Pay My Rent”: The Human Rights Impact of Austerity Measures on Housing in Finland, 14 April ↩︎
2. “Finland: Submission to the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 33rd session, 11-29 August ”, 26 June ↩︎
3. Finland, Norway, Sweden: Just Transition or “Green Colonialism”?: How Mineral Extraction and New Energy Projects Without Free, Prior and Informed Consent are Threatening Indigenous Sámi Livelihoods and Culture in Sweden, Norway and Finland, 1 January ↩︎