President Halonen calls for establishment of state body to monitor human rights

Tarja Halonen

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President Tarja Halonen has called for a thorough clarification of whether or not there is a need to set up a new state-run body to monitor and promote the implementation of human rights in Finland.
      The President was speaking on Tuesday at a seminar marking the 85th anniversary of the institution of the Parliamentary Ombudsman.
      Halonen pointed out that even though international human rights agreements are part of the law that is implemented in Finnish courts, Finland would need more pro-active human rights work, including education, information, and training in the subject. She said that this would reduce the need to resort to courts in human rights matters.
     
The Parliamentary Ombudsman has operated as an independent monitor of the implementation of the rule of law in Finland, and Halonen feels that a Finnish model of enforcing human rights could be built around the institution.
      The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has emphasised the importance of setting up national human rights institutions, and Denmark and Norway, for example, have already named their human rights institutes as bodies intended by the UN. The idea has been to set up an independent office to monitor and promote the implementation of international human rights agreements in the countries in question.
      President Halonen feels that Finland still has much to do, especially with respect to the minority rights of immigrants, for instance.


Links:
  Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
  Parliamentary Ombudsman

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