International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms
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UNITED CCPR NATIONS International covenant Distr. on civil and GENERAL political rights CCPR/C/FIN/2003/5 24 July 2003 Original: ENGLISH HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE CONSIDERATION OF REPORTS SUBMITTED BY STATE PARTIES UNDER ARTICLE 40 OF THE COVENANT Fifth Periodic Report FINLAND* [17 June 2003] * The report is issued unedited, in compliance with the wish expressed by the Human Rights Committee at its sixty-sixth session in July 1999. GE.03-43247 (E) 011203 CCPR/C/FIN/2003/5 page 2 CONTENTS Page Introduction ................................................................................................................... 7 SUBJECTS OF CONCERN AND THE COMMITTEE’S RECOMMENDATIONS .............................................................................................. 8 ARTICLE 1 1. Right of self-determination .................................................................................. 25 ARTICLE 2 1. Respect for and ensuring of the rights recognized in the Covenant without distinction of any kind ............................................................................ 27 2. Giving effect to the rights recognized in the Covenant ........................................ 27 3. Right to an effective remedy ................................................................................ 28 ARTICLE 3 Equality .......................................................................................................................... 29 ARTICLE 4 1. Derogations .......................................................................................................... 30 2. Prohibited derogations ......................................................................................... 30 ARTICLE 5 Absolute nature of fundamental human rights .............................................................. 31 ARTICLE 6 1. Right to life .......................................................................................................... 32 2. and 4 to 6. Death penalty .......................................................................................... 32 3. Genocide .............................................................................................................. 33 CCPR/C/FIN/2003/5 page 3 CONTENTS (continued) Page ARTICLE 7 Prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and punishment .............................................................................................. 33 ARTICLE 8 1. and 2. Prohibition of slavery, slave trade and servitude .......................................... 33 3. (a) Prohibition of forced labour .......................................................................... 34 ARTICLE 9 Right to liberty and security of person .......................................................................... 34 ARTICLE 10 1. Principle of human treatment of persons deprived of their liberty .................... 37 2. (a) Accused persons ................................................................................................ 39 2. (b) Accused juvenile persons .................................................................................. 40 3. Prison conditions ............................................................................................... 40 ARTICLE 11 Prohibition of imprisonment on the mere ground of inability to fulfil a contractual obligation ........................................................................................ 44 ARTICLE 12 1. Liberty of movement ......................................................................................... 44 2. Freedom to leave any country, including his own ............................................. 45 3. Restrictions to the liberty of movement and the freedom to leave the country ............................................................................................ 45 4. Deprivation of the right to enter one’s own country .......................................... 45 ARTICLE 13 Expulsion ....................................................................................................................... 45 CCPR/C/FIN/2003/5 page 4 CONTENTS (continued) Page ARTICLE 14 1. Equality before the courts and tribunals ............................................................... 48 3. (a) and (f). Procedural rights relating to the language of the proceedings ............... 49 4. Juvenile persons ................................................................................................... 50 5. Right to have a conviction or a sentence reviewed by a higher tribunal .............. 51 7. Prohibition of reversal of a final decision on conviction or acquittal .................. 51 ARTICLE 15 1. Nullum crimen sine lege ...................................................................................... 52 2. Punishment of acts constituting crimes under international law .......................... 53 ARTICLE 16 ................................................................................................................. 53 ARTICLE 17 1. Prohibition of arbitrary and unlawful interferences with privacy ........................ 53 2. Protection of law against interference or attacks ................................................. 54 ARTICLE 18 1. Right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion ......................................... 55 2. Prohibition of coercion ......................................................................................... 56 3. Limitations on the freedom to manifest one’s religion or beliefs ........................ 56 4. Liberty of parents ................................................................................................. 56 ARTICLE 19 1. Right to hold opinions .......................................................................................... 57 2. Freedom of expression ......................................................................................... 57 3. Limitations on the freedom of expression ............................................................ 59 CCPR/C/FIN/2003/5 page 5 CONTENTS (continued) Page ARTICLE 20 1. Prohibition of propaganda for war ....................................................................... 60 2. Prohibition of incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence ....................... 61 ARTICLE 21 Right of peaceful assembly ........................................................................................... 61 ARTICLE 22 1. Freedom of association ........................................................................................ 62 2. Prohibition of restrictions on the right to exercise the freedom of association ......................................................................................... 63 3. Prohibition of legislative measures which would prejudice the guarantees provided for in the ILO Convention concerning Freedom of Association .......... 63 ARTICLE 23 1. Protection of the family ........................................................................................ 64 2. Right to marry ...................................................................................................... 67 3. No marriage without the free and full consent of the intending spouses ............. 67 4. Equality of rights and responsibilities of spouses ................................................ 67 ARTICLE 24 1. Right of the child to protection without any discrimination ................................ 68 2. Registration and name of the child ....................................................................... 70 3. Right to nationality ............................................................................................... 70 ARTICLE 25 (a) and (b). Right to take part in the conduct of public affairs, and to vote and to be elected at genuine periodic elections ........................................ 71 (c) Access to public service on general terms of equality ......................................... 73 CCPR/C/FIN/2003/5 page 6 CONTENTS (continued) Page ARTICLE 26 Prohibition of discrimination ......................................................................................... 73 ARTICLE 27 Minorities ...................................................................................................................... 78 List of Appendices ......................................................................................................... 90 CCPR/C/FIN/2003/5 page 7 Introduction 1. The Fourth periodic report of the Government of Finland (CCPR/C/95/Add.6) refers several times to the reform of the provisions on fundamental rights in the Finnish Constitution, which entered into force on 1 August 1995. The reform updated and clarified the system of protection of fundamental rights which had been created as early as in 1919 and which had remained almost unchanged for more than 70 years. Many of the amendments made to the provisions were based on interpretations of the provisions of the repealed Constitution Act of Finland and, in that respect, the reform was mainly a codification of existing custom. 2. The emphasis in the repealed provisions was on the traditional freedoms, which no longer satisfied the needs of a modern state. The reform therefore had an objective of establishing de facto equality and economic, social and cultural rights as fundamental rights protected by the Constitution. Thus, the existing Constitution of Finland contains the most relevant provisions concerning social security, which have now been given a status