IN A REPORT released on Monday 8 March to mark International Women’s Day, human rights organisation Amnesty International stated that the Nordic countries, often hailed as beacons of sexual equality, had not sufficiently dealt with sexual violence. Amnesty also singled out the Finnish government for leaving women particularly vulnerable.

The human rights group said in the report that whereas Denmark, Norway and Sweden had adopted national action plans to address violence against women, Finland had not.

According to Amnesty, Finnish authorities still struggle to recognise gender-based violence as a problem for which the state bears responsibility. Without proper resources and indicators, the Finnish government’s commitment to prevent violence against women, including rape and sexual violence, will remain an empty promise.

Amnesty called attention to legislative defects, and specified for example that Finland is the only Nordic country where coerced sexual intercourse, also known as Òlesser degree rapeÓ, and certain other forms of sexual abuse are complaint offences, meaning that police will investigate only if the victim demands that the perpetrator be punished.

Furthermore, a victim of sexual abuse or rape can exercise his or her Òfree willÓ and ask the prosecutor not to prosecute. This opens the possibility for the perpetrator or others to pressure the victim into withdrawing the charges, and also sends the signal that it is up to the victim to decide whether a crime has been committed. From a human rights perspective, it is the duty of the state to prosecute all crimes against women effectively.

Amnesty also criticised the definition of rape in Finnish law as excessively narrow. If a woman is unable to defend herself due to being asleep, self-imposed intoxication, unconsciousness or illness, the crime is not defined as rape but as sexual abuse. From a human rights perspective, the actions of the perpetrator, not the victim, should be decisive as to whether rape has taken place. The right to sexual autonomy and integrity is unaffected by the victim being in a helpless state at the time of the rape. Neither is this right affected by whether the state is imposed by the victim or by the perpetrator, the report added.

Amnesty insisted that it is plain that Finland has been slower to amend legislation on violence against women and rape than other countries in the region. For example, Sweden was one of the first countries in the world to declare rape within marriage a crime, while Finland was among the last in Europe to criminalise marital rape.

STT
TEEMU HENRIKSSON – HT