During the year, the Human Rights Centre (HRC) improved the monitoring of fundamental and human rights. The promotion and monitoring of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) established itself as a new task and fundamental and human rights education and training spread widely. The HRC was actively involved in international and European cooperation.

Press release 25.5.2018

Annual Report of the Human Rights Centre published

How did the HRC promote the realisation of fundamental and human rights?

The comprehensive series of online lectures on fundamental and human rights organised by the HRC spread widely in educational services. The HRC participated in the Educa teaching and education fair with a human rights education theme, visited schools and held lectures on fundamental and human rights to government employees and university students. To promote research in the field of human rights, a report exploring the views of fundamental and human rights experts on the current state of the research and future research needs was published in 2017.

In 2017, the issues dealt with by the Human Rights Delegation included the rights of the Sámi people, legal protection of asylum seekers, monitoring the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the realisation of linguistic rights in practice. Moreover, the Delegation adopted a statement requiring the Government to launch without delay a reform of the Act on Legal Recognition of the Gender of Transsexuals (so-called Trans Act).

How did the HRC monitor the realisation of human rights?

During the year under review, the HRC prepared its first strategy on monitoring the implementation of fundamental and human rights. It submitted a report to the UN's Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) and participated in the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), an intergovernmental ‘peer review’ mechanism. In addition, the HRC issued several statements to national and international actors.

A special theme in the HRC’s monitoring activities was asylum seekers’ access to justice. The Centre commissioned a report on the needs to reform the Trans Act, which included a comparison of the relevant legislation in different countries, and together with the Parliamentary Ombudsman commissioned a study on the home care experiences of older people.

How did the HRC promote the rights of persons with disabilities?

The HRC has a special duty to promote, protect and monitor the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in collaboration with the Parliamentary Ombudsman and the Human Rights Delegation. It clarified its role in the field of actors engaged in disability matters and improved collaboration with the authorities and disability organisations. The HRC organised a workshop on legal remedies for disability organisations and launched cooperation to collect monitoring data on the realisation of the rights of persons with disabilities.

During the year under review, the Disability Rights Committee operating under the HRC drew up a proposal for the HRC and the Human Rights Delegation regarding the inclusion of persons with disabilities in the preparation of the regional government, health and social services reform.

How did the HRC participate in international cooperation?

The HRC is a member of the boards of ENNHRI, the European Network of National Human Rights Institutions, and GANHRI, the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions. In July 2017, Sirpa Rautio, the Director of the Human Rights Centre, took office as the Chairperson of the Management Board of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA).
 
With the help of these networks, the HRC distributes information about the international human rights developments to its collaboration partners, exchanges information on best practices and promotes the reconciliation of national and international human rights obligations.

The annual report is published in Finnish, Swedish and English and only as electronic versions.

Read more about the work carried out by the Human Rights Centre www.humanrightscentre.fi.

For further information, contact Sirpa Rautio, the Director of the Human Rights Centre (sirpa.rautio@ihmisoikeuskeskus.fi, +358 9 432 3780).