Dear PM Sipilä,
I have resided in Finland since 2000 and feel this affords me the position to speak on this subject from personal experience.
My experience of immigration & ‘integration’ pre-dates the recent migrant crises and therefore my views are not greatly influenced or biased by such.
Prime Minister Juha Sipilä. Source: Parliament.
The recent results of a 2017 report by EU Agency for Fundamental Human Rights (FRA) has placed Finland as EU’s second most racially-discriminative EU nation. I have not contributed feedback to this survey, however, would welcome any opportunity to do so in future.
The FRA’s results have been publicly acknowledged by some of your peers; including public recognition from Kirsi Pimiä (non.discrimination ombudsman/yhdenvertaisuusvaltuutettu).
I would also like to take the opportunity to quote FRA Director (Professor) M O’Flaherty;
“With every act of discrimination and hate, we erode social cohesion and create inequalities that blight generations fuelling the alienation that may ultimately have devastating consequences.”
I and my family – including bi-lingual children – have been victims of such hate and discrimination. Discrimination that has been repeatedly enabled and excused by local public sector workers and has led directly to negative outcomes described above. Local officials are enabled & given too much power without regulation which they can abuse to bully and intimidate and their ‘clients’ are unable to obtain legal redress. I have experienced a culture where very serious false allegations have been permitted and effectively encouraged by social workers that appear to enjoy the psychological bullying. The victims are unable to seek redress as police are not allowed to investigate such cases and so the cycle is allowed to continue. This cycle has continued for several years and the people behind it have been systematically attempting to drive-out and destroy. This bullying – of several years duration – has been excused and dismissed by local authority executives to us in person as “maassa maan tavalla” – I take this as both a highly offensive insult (as it was intended) and as a racial slur; yet another example of the empowered punishing the powerless.
In my view, there is no longer any excuse or mitigation for Finnish Govt & leadership to either deny or downplay these issues any longer; such as was the 2015 Nordic Media press release.
I implore you Mr Sipilä and your professional colleagues/peers to take immediate actions that will lead to prevention of the potentially devastating consequences of racism, discrimination, injustice and social exclusion in Finland.
In my opinion, you must now engage with your critics and accept that negative feedback IS of positive value.
