Juvenile justice in Finland

In 1619, during the period when the Duchy of Finland became part of Sweden , the government issued a decree establishing in each settlement that has the status of a city, orphanages in order to eliminate homeless children and teach them to work. In the 1650s, schools for the children of the poor began to open, the purpose of which was to make it easier for such children to find money and grow from them "good people." ^[eight]

From the first half of the 18th century, the poverty of parents began to be seen as an obstacle to fulfilling parental duty. In 1739, only the poor man who was hired by the whole family could count on the law and if the landowner the peasant family worked for could not give work to every child from this family, then the children went to work for another owner that the latter received some tax benefits from the state for providing the child with food and clothing.

In 1763, a new law on charity for the poor entered into force in Finland. The law emphasized the importance of family education as being more responsive to the needs of the child, as well as providing support to poor families. In 1773, large families received tax breaks. Raising children in an orphanage at that time was considered a necessary and even undesirable measure.

In 1868, a new law on entrepreneurial activity ordered manufacturers to request special permission to hire children under 12 years of age, as well as the use of teenagers under 15 in night shifts. By law of 1877, the work of a minor worker was limited to 8 hours. Soon after, the work of children under 12 was banned.

At the end of the 19th century, the principles of custody of a child in the city and in the village in Finland were different. In the city, guardianship could be carried out in various forms, by various institutions (there were schools for poor girls, Christian social movements Diakonia and Setlementti were active) or foster families. In rural areas, children mostly fell into the families of guardians: the one who requested the least compensation from the state received the right to bring up a child who was left unattended. ^[9] This phenomenon lasted in Finland until the 1920s.

In 1909 the first appeal was circulated in the Grand Duchy of Finland on the need for a law that would protect children from cruel and inappropriate treatment, but such a law was never developed.

After Finland gained independence, universal compulsory schooling was introduced in 1921. ^[10] Moreover, as the consequences of the civil war , the children of the “Red Finns” were simultaneously considered both potential “rebels” and future citizens of Finland who are not responsible for their parents. Raising them with loyal citizens became a precept of the public school, and municipal officials looked after home education.

In 1937, the first law on the protection of the rights of the child was adopted, which was based on family support (including advisory support), but if the well-being of the child could not be ensured in the family, it was possible to place the child under guardianship even against the will of the parents ^{[ 11]} .

During the hostilities of 1939-1945, about 70 thousand Finnish children were evacuated at the expense of state funds to Sweden and placed in foster families ^[12] , and in 1945 the first shelters for single mothers with children ^[13] appeared in Finland the name of the “ first house "( Finnish. Ensikoti ) .

In 1983, in the new version of the law “ On the Protection of the Rights of the Child ”(No. 683 of 1983), the principle of“ the good of the child ”was enshrined and the right to participate was formulated, allowing the child to influence adult decisions (but not make decisions for himself). At the same time, corporal punishment of children was prohibited. The same law also formulated the principles for the work of the Child Protection Service - “cooperation between the family and the service is based on trust and the desire for mutual understanding” , while the child should receive help, especially in a familiar and familiar environment — at home. If it is established that it is completely impossible to provide effective assistance at home, the law provides for resorting to the removal of the child from the family for the period necessary for the parents to return to normal living conditions ^[14] .

In 1991, Finland joined the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child , which in turn influenced the development and understanding of the principles for protecting the rights of the child, reflected in the latest version of the Law on the Protection of the Rights of the Child in Finland and entered into force in 2008 (additions made in 2010 ) ^[15] .

In 2009, in Helsinki, in one of the kindergartens, a case of violence against children was discovered (two teachers pacified naughty children while eating with scotch tape). They were acquitted by the district court, but the Court of Second Instance found them guilty of bodily harm and sentenced to a fine ^{[16] [17]} . Commissioner for Children's Rights Maria Kaisa Aula stated that the cases of violence that reached the trial were “only the visible part of the iceberg” and part of the illegal violent punishments remained hidden ^[18] .

Up to 400 million euros are spent annually in Finland on the maintenance of such boarding schools ^[19] . However, in the Central Union for the Protection of Children. Mannerheim believes that kindergartens are too rare (only 2% of all applications) turn to custody authorities with allegations of suspected child abuse and that they could be more active in this matter ^[20] .

From 2012 to 2013, in seven county courts in Pirkanmaa, Kant-Häme, South Karelia, Central Finland, Pohyanmaa, Kemi-Tornio and Lapland (since the beginning of 2011, the experiment has been conducted in the county courts of Espoo, Helsinki, Oulu and North Karelia), an experiment is being held in the field of the peaceful resolution of conflicts of custody ^[21] .

On July 1, 2012, a law on limiting the age for adoption of children (50 years) and a ban for minors to visit tanning salons came into force ^[22] . Volunteers working with children will be subject to more thorough scrutiny ^[23] .

According to the State Control and Supervision Service for Social Welfare and Healthcare, Valvira , despite the developed system of social welfare, in many municipalities of the country there is a catastrophic lack of qualified social workers, and the number of complaints about the actions of child protection authorities increased by one third in 2011 compared to 2010 year ^[24] . So in 2015, 11 officials were charged with inaction on the fact of the murder in 2012 in the family of an eight-year-old girl ^{[25] [26] [27]} .

According to the Finnish branch of Pelastakaa lapset ry, the welfare of Finnish children has begun to deteriorate in recent years, and in the ranking on children's welfare, Finland fell from second to 14th place ^[28] . 2014 data show that due to the economic crisis, nearly 160 thousand Finnish children are at risk of poverty ^[29] .

In 2016, data were published on which in 2015 27 children were kidnapped in Finland (11 in 2014) ^[30] .

Hannah Smith, a specialist at the Alexander Institute, considers Finland’s juvenile justice methods to be sovereign and meeting the highest standards. Hannah Smith considers the visit to Finland of the Commissioner for Children of Russia Pavel Astakhov "not appropriate to good diplomatic manners . " Ms. Smith also calls on the President of Finland to clearly indicate to the Russian leadership that such interference in the future is unacceptable, recalling that in Finland such conflicts are resolved in accordance with Finnish law, without the participation of state leaders, that this is the business of relevant authorities. ^[31]

Also, the Minister of Basic Social Services of Finland, Paula Risikko, stated that “in the activities of the Finnish social services in the situation recently discussed in the public, there were no unlawful actions that would create an occasion for the Ministry of Social Welfare and Health” . ^[32] Moreover, not a single case of Russian-speaking parents contacting child protection societies with extensive experience in resolving situations is unknown.

The President of Finland, Sauli Niinistö, said that “children are not an instrument of politics”, and the Russian side’s demand for the creation of a joint commission for the protection of children is impossible, since it is not stipulated by Finnish law ^[33] .

At the same time, on May 29, 2012, the State Control Agency (VTV) published a report criticizing the Finnish child protection system, pointing out a number of problems ^[34] . So, in 2012, despite 11 complaints of child abuse, the social welfare authorities did not take appropriate measures, which led to the death of an 8-year-old girl ^{[35] [36] [37] [38] [39]} . The new Commissioner for Children's Affairs, Tuomas Kurttila, stated that the biggest problem is the lack of cooperation between officials of various government bodies ^[40] .

It is used as the last form of protection of the rights of the child and is used only when there are no mechanisms for caring for the child, as well as necessary living conditions or in circumstances where the behavior of the child itself threatens his health and safety (the latter refers to the use of drugs by minors, criminal acts and related aspects). An additional factor for removing a child from the family is the inability to implement the program of stabilization of the situation recommended by the social service. ^[42] Interviews should be conducted with the child and his family before the removal of the child (over 12 years old). ^[43] If one of the parties is against the measure of removal from the family, the decision of the social service on removal must be confirmed by an administrative court (a child older than 12 and any of his guardians have the right to challenge this decision in a higher court up to the highest court). ^[44]

Subject to the fulfillment of the above conditions, social workers of the regional community are obliged to remove the child and provide him with decent living conditions, which is implemented either as an urgent protective measure ^[45] or by ordinary removal (the latter is a longer stay of the child outside the home or place of social stay) . ^[46] Withdrawal, as the execution of the decision of the bureau of social services, may be made against the will of the recipients, but often made with the consent of both parties. Placement of a child outside the family is terminated if the reasons that gave rise to it disappear, as well as when the child reaches the age of 18 (until the age of 21, the social service is obliged to support the wards). ^[44]

Urgent cases of the child’s seizure include a situation in which: the apartment is turned into a brothel , or the mother is engaged in prostitution , as well as in cases where the child clearly shows signs of beatings (in this case, state care is guaranteed to all children of the family) ^[47] , with the circumstances of the seizure never submitted for public discussion, and disputed issues are resolved in court, in closed session. There is no concept of “deprivation of parental rights” in Finnish law, so parents always remain parents. ^[48]

In his article, the chairman of the Anti-Fascist Committee of Finland, human rights activist Johan Bekman , states ^[49] that "juvenile justice is one of the main tools for fascist society and the destruction of the family as the main institution of public life . " As of 2011, Finland had 17,409 children ^[50] taken under state care and their number is increasing every year. ^[51] In addition, the Finnish researcher notes that "juvenile justice is a weapon in the hands of atheists , used by them for new persecutions of Christianity . " As an example, Beckman cites cases of oppression against Orthodox Christians in Finland : one of the victims of these persecutions was, for example, Rimma Salonen. ^[52] The case of Anton Salonen , widely discussed in the Russian media, in which Rimma Salonen, a citizen of Russia and Finland, was deprived of maternal rights due to a dispute over custody of a child, revealed in Finland juvenile justice a number of aspects that destabilize Finnish society . ^[53]

The case of Robert Rantal considered as similar controversial methods of applying juvenile justice , ^[54] according to which in February 2010 the boy was isolated immediately from both parents ^[55] and the case of Yulia Putkonen, according to which Finnish social services seized the child from a Russian mother ^[56] and transferred to the custody of a Finnish father working in Russia. ^[57] In 2012, the Case of Anastasia Zavgorodnaya caused widespread public outcry both in Finland and in Russia, from which four children, including a newborn, were seized by guardianship authorities. ^{[58] [59] [60]}

• Union for the Protection of Children of Mannerheim - founded in 1920.
• Central Union for the Protection of Children - founded in 1937.
• Finnish Association for Child Care - help for parents and children. ^[61]
• Association of Shelters for Young Mothers and Victims of Domestic Violence - founded as the Union of Women's Shelter Homes , to help women who give birth outside of marriage. Contains 11 shelters, 14 protection houses, 7 shelters for drug addicts. ^[62]
• Save the Children - an international organization, founded in London in 1919. In Finland since 1922. It mainly helps families accept ^{[ clarify ]} children from different hot spots.
• The best for children - Founded in 1945 by the Democratic Union of Finland based on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
• Child 2000 - Founded in 1999, a society of experts on youth and children's health. Educational activity.

• The Case of Anastasia Zavgorodnaya
• The Case of Anton Salonen
• The Case of Robert Rantal

• Child Protection Act (full original) (Fin.)
• Child Protection Act (unofficial translation into Russian)
• Child Protection Information in Finland