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28.5.2025 | The Ministry of Education and Culture has prepared a programme to advocate equity and non-discrimination in early childhood education and care, in schools and in educational institutions. The measures will be carried out over the 2025 to 2027 period.

Progress of the government action plan to combat racism The government action plan to combat racism and promote equality implements the policies set out in the equality statement issued by the Government. The selected measures are based on an asse...

17.12.2024 | The Ministry of the Interior has submitted to the Non-Discrimination Ombudsman a follow-up report on the preparation of the allocation of the refugee quota. The report requested by the Ombudsman was also submitted to the Chancellor of Justice. As the matter is of major importance to society and of interest to many, the Ministry of the Interior will make the report available to the public.

Promoting equality Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s Government is committed to promoting equality, gender equality and non-discrimination in Finnish society. Action plan for combating racism brings together means to build a more equal Finland The gov...

13.2.2026 | An interim report has been published on the project implementing the Government’s Equality Statement. The report brings together information on the project’s progress between 2023 and 2026. According to the report, the work has already led to legislative reforms and increased concrete anti‑racism measures across different sectors.

18.3.2025 | Differences and disparities related to origin and ethnicity are strongly visible in various areas of children’s and young people’s lives, such as education, working life, health, wellbeing, inclusion, family life and safety. This is evident from a study by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) on the realisation of ethnic equality among people under 30 years of age in Finland.

31.8.2023 | On 31 August, the Government adopted a statement to Parliament on measures to promote equality, gender equality and non-discrimination in Finnish society.

7.11.2022 | A recent report shows that Finnish higher education institutions still have much work to do in promoting equality for teaching and research staff. Commissioned by the Ministry of Education and Culture, the project examined how gender equality, non-discrimination and diversity in higher education communities are realised and promoted in Finnish higher education institutions. The project’s final report was published on Monday 7 November.

31.8.2023 | On 31 August, the Government adopted a statement to Parliament on measures to promote equality, gender equality and non-discrimination in Finnish society.

6.9.2023 | Prime Minister Petteri Orpo gave a presentation speech to Parliament on the government statement on promoting equality, gender equality and non-discrimination on 6 September 2023. Speech to be checked against delivery.

18.7.2023 | On 17 July 2023, the Government appointed a working group to prepare a Government communication on promoting equality and non-discrimination in Finnish society. The working group was appointed for the period from 17 July 2023 to 31 August 2023.

21.10.2025 | The Prime Minister’s Office has awarded a total of EUR 240,000 in discretionary government grants for work to combat racism in 2025–2026. The grants were available to civil society organisations representing ethnic minorities and were intended to strengthen the organisations’ core activities and develop new ways to combat racism.

23.8.2022 | The use of AI systems is not yet widespread in Finland, which means it is still possible to address algorithmic discrimination from the very beginning of the AI development cycle. This is according to a new study, which developed a tool for assessing the discriminatory impacts of artificial intelligence and promoting equality in the use of AI applications.

12.5.2025 | Civil society organisations representing ethnic minorities can now apply for discretionary government grants to develop their work to combat racism in 2025–2026. The Prime Minister’s Office opened the call for applications on 12 May.

25.5.2020 | A new research project titled ‘Towards non-discrimination in working life’ provides current information on discrimination in Finnish workplaces. The project seeks to provide an overview of discrimination in working life and to identify ways of preventing discrimination, particularly in recruitment situations. The project is carried out by the Labour Institute for Economic Research (PT) and the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL).

11.3.2025 | Prime Minister Petteri Orpo invited representatives from Finland’s six largest cities (Helsinki, Espoo, Tampere, Vantaa, Oulu and Turku), immigrant organisations, religious communities and public officials to explore ways to promote good relations between population groups in Finland. The event was organised in cooperation with the City of Vantaa on 11 March.

2.12.2021 | Commissioned by the Ministry of Education and Culture, the project examines how equality, non-discrimination and diversity among staff members can be promoted in Finnish higher education institutions. Based on the study, concrete proposals for measures will be developed for higher education institutions and for national policy approaches.

14.10.2024 | The Government discussed the recommendations, decisions and conclusions issued to Finland by the international human rights monitoring bodies on 3 October. The discussion was held as part of the implementation of the Government's equality statement. Based on the discussion, the State Secretaries of the parties in Government decided on further measures related to the recommendations.

27.1.2025 | Discrimination in recruitment based on ethnic background has decreased in Finland, but jobseekers with a foreign background still have to submit more applications in order to receive an invitation for a job interview than equally qualified applicants with a Finnish background. Potential workforce remains untapped due to ethnic prejudices.

EN 1 EN SFC2021 INTERREG Programme CCI 2021TC16RFCB013 Title (Interreg VI-A) Finland-Estonia-Latvia-Sweden (Central Baltic) Version 3.0 First year 2021 Last year 2027 Eligible from 1 Jan 2021 Eligible until 31 Dec 2029 EC decision number C(2023)38...