Implementation of Government’s Equality Statement progressing – interim report presents outcomes and impacts to date

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.

The Government issued its statement to Parliament on promoting equality, gender equality and non-discrimination in Finnish society on 31 August 2023. The cross‑administrative project for implementing the statement was established in November 2023. The Prime Minister’s Office coordinates the implementation across the Government.

Of the 62 measures in the action plan for combating racism, which was drawn up on the basis of the Equality Statement and puts its objectives into practice, nine have now been fully completed. These include reforming the Act on the Sami Parliament, criminalising Holocaust denial, and publishing a study on equality in early childhood education and care.

Another measure currently under way is the implementation of ten projects funded through a discretionary government grant to support civil society’s anti‑racism work. As part of a development programme promoting equality in education and training, a report on cooperation between homes and schools in multilingual and multicultural daily life was published in January 2026.

So far, 93 organisations have joined the Action, not only words campaign to combat racism, and nearly a thousand participants have taken part in webinars under the campaign.

Training on equality and anti‑racism has reached thousands of professionals, and the Advisory Board for Ethnic Relations’ youth dialogues supporting equality have expanded to 16 localities across Finland. In addition, the Family Federation of Finland’s You Are Not Alone service has been expanded to cover leisure activities and youth work: the service has received 245 contacts, and nearly 10,000 people have participated in its training sessions.

Progress in combatting discrimination against religious minorities – further action needed to tackle anti‑Roma discrimination

According to the interim report, efforts to combat discrimination against religious minorities have progressed. However, the report finds that addressing anti‑Roma discrimination requires substantially stronger action. Participation of civil society organisations in planning and evaluating the action plan has deepened, and their perspectives are increasingly visible in the work of central government administration.

A key objective guiding the implementation of the Equality Statement is the dismantling of structural inequality. According to the interim report, the work has reinforced equal practices and expanded the knowledge base, which will be further improved in 2026 with the preparation of a roadmap for collecting data on discrimination.

The project implementing the Equality Statement will continue throughout the Government term of Prime Minister Petteri Orpo. For the remainder of the term, the report recommends measures to promote equality for people of African descent, Roma and Sami, as well as further development of cooperation with civil society. Evaluation data on the action plan’s impact will also be compiled for future governments to enable the long-term development of the efforts to advance equality and non‑discrimination.

Inquiries: Jouni Varanka, Head of Unit, Strategy Department, Prime Minister's Office, tel. +358 295 160 177 and Katriina Nousiainen, Chief Specialist, Strategy Department, Prime Minister's Office, tel. +358 295 160 735.

email addresses are in the format [email protected]