by Dr. Johan BÄCKMAN (Finland)
Speech
at the OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting, Warsaw, 24.9.2013 (Working
Session 2)
Ladies
and Gentlemen,
Many
Russians in Finland are victims of constant racism, hate crimes and human
rights violations. Finnish press is often tinted with anti-Russian views, which
Russian inhabitants of Finland may find insulting. Finnish officials are sensitive
about racism and xenophobia, but they deny the existence of anti-Russian sentiments
and Russophobia in Finland. There are up to 8,000 Russian-Finnish registered
families living in Finland at the moment. Many Russian children are being
mobbed at Finnish schools. Many Russian mothers and children are victims of
repression by the social services, who have already seized dozens of Russian children
with unfounded basis. Finland is not compiling reliable statistics about
Russian inhabitants of the country, but according to estimates from May 2013,
there are 62,500 Russian-speakers living in the country at the moment. In many
regions, number of Russian-speakers is much more than the number of
Swedish-speakers. Unfortunately, The Swedish National Party of Finland, their
politicians and members of the Swedish-speaking intellectual elite are very
strongly opposing any improvements to the position of Russian language and
minority in Finland. Despite the fact that many Finns are even promoting the
idea to replace compulsory Swedish language at Finnish schools with Russian,
the Finnish minority ombudsman Eva Biaudet, herself representing the Swedish
minority, is strongly against any new rights for Russian-speaking minority. Actually,
the Swedish National Party of Finland and their politicians are not a result of
democratic processes, but the political and educational privileges of the
Swedish minority in Finland. New OSCE High Commissioner Astrid Thors is one of
the most famous examples of this privileged minority, and we should be aware of
the fact that opposing all reforms in favor of Russian language has always been
a priority for the Swedish minority in Finland. The Finnish government does not
even admit that a Russian minority exists in the country. On the contrary, the
official documents and press mostly speak about Russian-speaking minority.
Speaking about Russian Orthodox Minority in Finland is practically
non-existent, although majority of Russians in Finland are Russian Orthodox. One
of the main goals of Swedish minority politicians of Finland is seemingly to prevent
any Russian national party from Finland from emerging, and in this way, to
maintain the undemocratic elite privileges of the Swedish minority of Finland. It
seems that the Finnish state is doing everything possible to prevent
politicized Russian community from emerging. Thank you for your attention.
