Finland

Kaj Raninen

In its own way, Finland is a very militarised country, although it might not look like that at first sight. Finnish militarism does not mean that the military is strikingly visible in society or that it necessarily has more influence in the society than in other Western European countries. It is rather a state of mind, a historically constructed way of thinking, according to which Finland is always under military threat - even when no one has got any idea who might cause this threat or no one can imagine a situation where it might materialise.

Kaj Raninen

Finland still maintains a very extensive conscription system. About 80% of all male Finnish citizens perform military service, a bit more than 10 % are exempted from service and about 7 % apply for conscientious objection.

Welcome to the Prisoners for Peace special edition of The Broken Rifle. The focus of Prisoners for Peace Day 2004 is the imprisonment of conscientious objectors in Finland. Finland, a member state of the European Union, continues to imprison conscientious objectors who refuse to perform a substitute service which is punitive in length. And the number of imprisoned conscientious objectors is growing - now standing at about 70-80 annually.

Finland: War Resisters' International releases report on imprisonment of conscientious objectors in Finland

In preparation for Prisoners for Peace Day on 1 December, and for the autumn session of the UN Human Rights Committee, War Resisters' International released a new report on imprisonment of conscientious objectors in Finland. The Executive Summary of this report sums up the situation:

The right to conscientious objection is only recognised in peacetime.

Report for the Human Rights Committee in relation to Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political RightsWar Resisters' International, September 2004Main ConcernsThe right to conscientious objection is only recognised in peacetime. This means that at a time when it would be most needed -- at times of war -- conscientious objectors will not be able to act according to their conscience.

The right to conscientious objection is derived from Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and seen as a manifestation of the freedom of religion and belief. The then CSCE stressed the right to conscientious objection in paragraph 18 of the Document of the Copenhagen meeting of the Conference on the Human Dimension in June 1990.The UN Commission on Human Rights stressed the right to conscientious objection in several resolution, most recently Resolution 1998/77, 2000/34, 2002/45. The Council of Europe also stresses the right to conscientious objection, especially in resolution 337 (1967) and recommendations 1518 (2001), R (87) 8, and 816 (1977).

CCPR/C/79/Add.91
8 April 1998

(...)

21. The Committee reiterates its concern, expressed during the consideration of Finland's third report, that Jehovah's Witnesses are granted by domestic law preferential treatment as compared with other groups of conscientious objectors and recommends that the State Party review the law to bring it into full conformity with article 26 of the Covenant.

(...)

Source: http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/(Symbol)/CCPR.C.79.Add.91.En?Opendocument

AS TO THE ADMISSIBILITY OF

Application No. 17086/90

by Tomi AUTIO

against Finland

The European Commission of Human Rights sitting in private on 6 December 1991, the following members being present:

MM.C.A. NØRGAARD, President
J.A. FROWEIN
S. TRECHSEL
G. SPERDUTI
G. JÖRUNDSSON
A.S. GÖZÜBÜYÜK
A. WEITZEL
J.-C. SOYER
H.G. SCHERMERS
H. DANELIUS
Mrs.G. H. THUNE
SirBasil HALL
MM.F. MARTINEZ RUIZ
C.L. ROZAKIS
Mrs.J. LIDDY
MM.L. LOUCAIDES
A.V. ALMEIDA RIBEIRO
M.P. PELLONPÄÄ
B. MARXER

Mr. H.C. KRÜGER, Secretary to the Commission

U.N. Doc. CCPR/C/OP/2 at 61 (1990).

Submitted by: L. T. K. (name deleted) undated, received on 18 October 1984
Alleged victim: The author
State party: Finland
Declared inadmissible: 9 July 1985 (twenty-fifth session)

Subject matter: Conscientious objector to military service

Procedural issues: Inadmissibility ratione materiae--Unsubstantiated allegations--Failure to state a claim--Compatibility with Covenant

Substantive issues: Freedom of conscience--Freedom of expression--Conscientious objector

Articles of the Covenant: 8 (3), 18 and 19

Views of the Human Rights Committee under article 5, paragraph 4,
of the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant
on Civil and Political Right

- Twenty-fourth session -

Communication No. 89/1981
Submitted by: Paavo Muhonen
Alleged victim: The author
State party concerned: Finland

Date of communication: 28 March 1981 (date of initial letter)

The Human Rights Committee established under article 28 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,

Meeting on 8 April 1985,