Government report to Parliament on the human rights policy of Finland 2004

Government report to Parliament on the human rights policy of Finland 2004 (Opens New Window) (PDF 454 kB)

Human rights are among the priorities of the Finnish Government’s foreign policy. In accordance with the Government’s political programme, the Government pursues an active human rights policy both in bilateral relations and within the frameworks of the European Union and other international organisations. The Government supports the primary role of the United Nations in the promotion of universal respect for human rights as well as the work of the Council of Europe and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe in the field of human rights.

This report outlines the objectives and means of the Government’s active human rights policy. It also gives account of the development since the submission of the previous Report by Minister for Foreign Affairs Erkki Tuomioja to the Foreign Affairs Committee of Parliament on the Human Rights Policy of the Finnish Government in 2000, and particularly of the ways in which the objectives set out in that report have been met. Certain questions are addressed in more detail, in order to provide concrete examples of the situation and of the Government’s activities. The most relevant objectives of the Government are summarised at the beginning of the present report as well as at the beginning of each section of the report.