CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2022
| Author | Asikainen, Saara |
|---|---|
| Title | Racism and Legal Protections in Finland from the Critical Race Theory Perspective |
| Summary | My project assesses the adequacy of legal protections against racism in Finland as it has consistently been found to be the most racist country in Europe. I use Critical Race Theory as my methodology, relying especially on color-blindness to explain the Nordic and Finnish tactics of suppressing discussions about societal racism. I begin with a historical examination of colonialism in Europe, the Nordic countries and Finland, establishing it as the basis for their racism. In terms of legal protections within the international human rights framework, I examine the effects of two monitoring bodies, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance, finding ECRI to be more useful for enforcing human rights standards through the European Union. Considering criminal and civil domestic legislation in Finland especially through their implementation, I conclude that both legislative means present shortcomings. Bringing criminal cases against racism is hindered by the police’s color-blindness in detecting a racist motivation as an aggravating factor while the Non-Discrimination Ombudsman is too under-resourced to protect racialized people’s individual rights through anti-discrimination law. |
| Supervisor | Möschel, Mathias |
| Department | Legal Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2022/asikainen_saara.pdf |
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