Lapsiasiavaltuutettu

Twenty years of children's rights in Finland

Ombudsman for Children in Finland, Ms. Maria Kaisa Aula

In my presentation I will assess how the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child has been implemented in Finland during the past 20 years. There are both strengths and weaknesses in children's welfare in Finland. Our country has ranked high in recent comparisons of child wellbeing, both in the EU and among OECD countries. We have very healthy babies and basic education of a high quality. Corporal punishment of children was prohibited as early as in 1984.

But children in Finland would like their parents and other adults to have a greater presence in their lives - they complain of loneliness.  Children would like to have more room to play and to create, instead of being subjected to performance pressures at a far too early age. We need more preventive services for families to be provided by our local authorities.  We also need more participation, and above all we need to listen to the children themselves.  

Thanks to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the participation rights of children are very well taken into account in our legislation. But in practice there is still a lot to be desired in the attitudes of the adult decision-makers. There are good local examples, though, and even the child impact analysis of decisions is being advanced little by little.

During the present Government, our commitment to the Convention on the Rights of the Child has improved. The Convention forms the basis of our first ever multisectoral child and youth policy programme. This year the Government, the Ombudsman for Children, NGOs and the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Finland are campaigning jointly to promote the Convention. A set of key child rights indicators is being developed in order to allow better monitoring of the wellbeing of children.

The Ombudsman for Children in Finland promotes children's rights at a general societal level and therefore does not handle complaints or deal with individual cases. This mandate is similar to that of my colleagues in Norway and Sweden. The Finnish Ombudsman for Children is an independent government agency but does not want to work alone. Networking closely with other actors increases the impact of our work. Listening to the opinions of children and conveying them to the decision-makers is our principal task. Our day-to-day work includes lobbying for children's rights and issuing statements and initiatives to decision-makers. A lot of this work is done through the media.

I have been pleased to notice that even a small agency with only five people in it can make a difference and improve the visibility of children and their rights in society. However, the present economic downturn puts the decision-makers to the test: can they keep their good promises, or are we going to experience cuts in services for families? Finland should not repeat the mistakes that were made during the previous economic downturn in the early 1990s, because cuts to preventive services for children will simply increase the cost to the taxpayer in the long run.