UN Committee on the Rights of the Child issues recommendations to Finland

On 2 June, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child issued recommendations to Finland based on Finland's combined fifth and sixth periodic reports on the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Optional Protocols thereto.

The Committee on the Rights of the Child welcomed several legislative and policy measures implemented in Finland, such as the reform of the provisions on sexual offences in the Criminal Code, the new national Child Strategy, the Action Plans for the Istanbul Convention and the Lanzarote Convention, and the Action Plan against Trafficking in Human Beings.

The Committee made recommendations to Finland on the realisation of the rights of the child. The recommendations concern, among other things, the primacy of the best interests of the child, measures to prevent violence against children and sexual exploitation and abuse of children, inclusive education for children with disabilities, and measures to improve children's mental health. The Committee also made recommendations on, for example, asylum-seeking children, the impact of climate change on children, the prevention of child trafficking, children's right to privacy in the digital environment, statistics, and child budgeting.

The Committee on the Rights of the Child is a body of independent experts that monitors the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Committee considered Finland's combined fifth and sixth periodic reports on the implementation of the Convention and Finland's first periodic report on the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography in a public dialogue in Geneva, Switzerland, on 15 and 16 May 2023.

The Committee's recommendations on the Convention in English (pdf)

The Committee's recommendations on the Optional Protocol in English (pdf)

Inquiries

  • Krista Oinonen, Director, Unit for Human Rights Courts and Conventions, tel. +358 295 351 172
  • The email addresses of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs are in the format firstname.lastname@gov.fi.