NordenBladet — The Ministry of the Interior has set up a legislative project to prepare urgent and necessary amendments to the Rescue Act. The aim is to update the Rescue Act on the basis of a preliminary study and the comments received on it during the consultation round.The purpose of the amendments is to reform the Rescue Act to better reflect the operating environment of the rescue services, future developments and the ongoing wellbeing services county reform. The amendments to the Rescue Act that require more thorough legislative drafting and impact assessment, as outlined in the preliminary study and the comments received, will be implemented during the next government term.
NordenBladet — An independent working group of experts examined regulatory needs concerning good end-of-life care, patients’ right to self-determination, and terminal care and euthanasia. The working group has now completed its final report and submitted it to the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health.Shortcomings in palliative and terminal care cannot be addressed without amending the legislationThe experts in the working group are unanimous in their view that palliative care and terminal care should be further developed, access to them improved and the related expertise increased. They recognise that recommendations alone will not be enough to address the identified shortcomings and that legislation must be amended, as well. In its final report, the group proposes amendments to the Act on the Status and Rights of Patients, the Health Care Act and the Health Insurance Act. In addition, the group assessed what kinds of direct costs and savings could be achieved by amending the legislation and by improving the practices of end-of-life care. No unanimous view was reached on the legalisation of euthanasiaThe expert working group does not present a unanimous view as to whether physician-assisted suicide or euthanasia should be legalised. However, the group has sketched two draft pieces of legislation on physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia should such legislation be considered later. The first is based on the citizens’ initiative and is more limited, whereas the second is more permissive. A third option is to stay within the current legislation. In its final report, the group points out that the legal status of physicians would be unclear should a physician assist a patient in committing suicide. The social consequences of legalising physician-assisted suicide or euthanasia should be carefully examined, according to the working group. The group hopes that the draft pieces of legislation presented in the final report provide a basis for public debate and outline those legal and ethical issues that would need to be addressed should such legislation be considered later.Citizens’ initiative for legalising euthanasia served as basis for the working groupThe Ministry of Social Affairs and Health appointed the independent working group of experts as a response to the citizens’ initiative for legalising euthanasia. Parliament discussed and rejected the initiative in spring 2018 and called for the appointment of a broad-based working group of experts. The term of the expert working group lasted from 8 May 2018 until 30 June 2021.The expert working group has earlier published recommendations on palliative care and terminal care and produced a terminal care online course for healthcare and social welfare professionals.
NordenBladet — As part of Finland’s Presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers, a webinar will be held from 31 August to 1 September that will focus on the rights of indigenous people with disabilities and diseases causing memory loss, and on the provision of linguistically and culturally sensitive services. The webinar seeks to raise awareness of rights, and share experiences to develop services.Equal human rights for allThe purpose of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is to promote, protect and ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by all persons with disabilities. The main principles of the Convention are non-discrimination, inclusion and accessibility. The Convention emphasises the involvement of persons with disabilities in all decision-making concerning them. The obligation of the signatories to involve organisations of persons with disabilities also covers indigenous people with disabilities.The rights of people with disabilities, people with diseases causing memory loss, and indigenous people are often treated separately. One important aspect of the webinar is intersectionality, in other words, how a combination of different factors affects the position and circumstances of the individual. One of the webinar’s main speakers is the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities, Gerard Quinn.‘When the CRPD was drafted, there was insufficient awareness of the situation and rights of indigenous persons with disabilities. However, unlike many previous treaties, the drafters did manage to open some small windows onto intersectional dimensions of disability discrimination – windows that have grown through time in the practice of the CRPD Committee. The time is right – if not long overdue – to give a much fuller consideration of the accumulated disadvantages that affect indigenous persons with disabilities,’ Quinn says, and continues:‘More positively, now is the right time to value culture and the individual and overlapping identities of indigenous peoples. I have often said that the image of the person in the CRPD is that of the ‘social self’ and that belonging is just as important a goal as inclusion. That being so, the special connectedness between people and place, the heightened respect for nature and its bounty and the wisdom that indigenous cultures have developed over the centuries are assets for all humankind, as we try to develop a more sustainable future for all.’ Rights of Sámi persons with disabilities and diseases causing memory lossThe UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities guarantees that those with disabilities should have the right to live independently as part of the community. In additional to making basic services available to persons with disabilities, the service provision must include personalised special services, according to requirement.When assessing the needs of assistance and support for people with disabilities and older people and planning such services, it is important to take the specific characteristics of Sámi culture into account. The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health is currently reforming the laws on services both for people with disabilities and for older people. People’s involvement in their own lives and related decision-making, having the ability to live a life on one’s own terms despite functional constraints, and ensuring provision of services that meet individual needs, all represent the starting points for both projects. These aspects must also be realised for Sámi people with disabilities and diseases causing memory loss.‘Both in the preparation of legislation and in its implementation, attention must be paid to the rights of the Sámi people, precisely because they involve specific linguistic and cultural characteristics,’ says Jaana Huhta, Senior Ministerial Adviser at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health.The webinar will be organised in cooperation between the Nordic Dementia Network under the Nordic Welfare Centre and the Council of Nordic Cooperation on Disability. Other organisers are the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, the Sámi Parliament in Finland, Sámisoster, the Advisory Board on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (VANE), and the Human Rights Centre.The webinar is open to anyone interested, but participants are asked to register for the event. The language of the webinar is English, and the webinar will be interpreted into North Sámi.Registration and event programme: Indigenous peoples: language, culture, and life cycle (Nordic Welfare Centre)
NordenBladet — The Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the EU has called an extraordinary meeting of home affairs ministers on Tuesday 31 August. Finland will be represented by Minister of the Interior Maria Ohisalo. The topics on the agenda will be the migratory and security impacts of the situation in Afghanistan.“The situation in Afghanistan is cause for great concern, and we are monitoring the development of the situation closely. It’s important to find a common European approach to responding to the situation,” says Minister Ohisalo.Reception of quota refugees is a way to help those most in needThe fall of the government supported by the international community and the rapidly deteriorating security situation have put Afghanistan in the international spotlight. In the first phase, all Member States have been focusing on the evacuation from Kabul of Afghans who cooperated with the EU and the Member States.In the initial discussions at the EU level, it has also been considered urgent to intensify cooperation with Afghanistan’s neighbouring countries so that they can be effectively supported in the reception of migrants. Supporting legal migration pathways is an important part of the EU’s cooperation with third countries. This also includes the resettlement of refugees to EU Member States, to which the European Commission has already promised to provide funding.“Reception of quota refugees is one of the most effective ways to help those most in need. Finland is considering doubling the refugee quota for next year,” Ohisalo says.Currently, Finland’s annual refugee quota is 1,050. For example, people who have fled war or persecution and are proposed for resettlement by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) are selected as quota refugees.The situation in Afghanistan is likely to also affect migration to Europe, and many EU Member States already have significant Afghan communities. About 7,000 Afghan citizens live in Finland. Impact on EU security will also be monitoredIt is estimated that the increase in migration to Europe will also activate facilitators of illegal entry and related criminal groups. Unauthorised entry into the Schengen area is anticipated and prevented through the control of the EU’s external borders. At the same time, trafficking in human beings and the access of international organised crime and terrorist suspects to the Schengen area will be combated.“The critical security situation in Afghanistan is also reflected outside the country’s borders. It’s important to monitor its effects, for example on the threat of terrorism, both in Afghanistan’s neighbouring regions and in the EU,” Minister Ohisalo says.
NordenBladet — Finland’s relief efforts in Afghanistan were complemented late on the night of Friday 27 August, when the employees of the company responsible for the security of Finnish Embassy personnel were successfully led inside the gates of Kabul Airport. The total number of these employees and their family members is 83 persons. Assisted by US troops, the group managed to get on a flight away from Kabul early this morning.The keys to success were close diplomatic contacts and collaboration between the United States and Finland, based on networks created by Finland during the evacuation effort.This is the group of 128 individuals on whose evacuation the Finnish Government made a decision at an extraordinary meeting on 24 August.The total number of evacuees to Finland is now 413 persons.Finland’s relief efforts in Afghanistan ended when the Foreign Ministry’s relief team and the Defence Forces’ unit tasked with safeguarding the efforts had left Kabul. The Foreign Ministry’s relief team arrived in Finland on the night of Friday 27 August, and the Defence Forces announced that their unit has returned home this morning (28 August).The Ministry for Foreign Affairs will continue to provide assistance to Finnish citizens and permanent residents of Finland in Afghanistan to the extent possible.
NordenBladet — Finland is the first country in the world to publish a National Action Plan for the implementation of the UN Security Council Resolution 2250 on Youth, Peace and Security. Finland’s National Action Plan was published on 20 August and it is available in Finnish, Swedish and English. An easy-to-read version of the text will be published later.The national launch event of the Action Plan was held virtually on 26 August. Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto, UN Youth Delegate of Finland Katri Leppälaakso and Milla Mäkinen, International Programs Specialist at YMCA Finland and in the 2250 network, spoke at the event. The event was hosted by Camilla Ojala, Youth and Peace Coordinator at UN Youth of Finland. UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth Jayathma Wickramanayake presented a video greeting. A launch event for international audiences will be held later in the autumn. The Action Plan can be found in the Institutional Repository for the Government of Finland Valto.Globally, 600 million young people, that is, a quarter of the world’s youth, live in fragile countries or countries that are affected by or recovering from conflict. Young people are often excluded from official decision-making and peace processes. The UN Security Council Resolution 2250 on Youth, Peace and Security, which was adopted in 2015, recognises the positive and active role of youth in building peace and security. Resolution 2250, and Resolutions 2419 and 2535 which were adopted in 2018 and 2020, urge UN Member States to take into account the needs, perspectives and rights of youth as well as their need for protection and to involve them in all stages of peace processes.A recording of the event will be available for viewing for two weeks.The National Action Plan is the result of extensive cooperation between different stakeholdersThe Action Plan is based on the five priorities set out in the above-mentioned resolutions: participation; prevention; partnerships; protection; and disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration. The Action Plan’s cross-cutting theme is intersectionality, while other important themes are climate change and new technologies.
NordenBladet — Today, on 27 August 2021, the President of the Republic approved the amendment to the Annex to the Decree of the President of the Republic on the Locations of Finland’s Diplomatic Missions and the Provision of Consular Services in the Foreign Service. The amendment will enter into force at the beginning of October.Due to the amendments to the Decree, the Embassy in The Hague, the Netherlands, will take responsibility for the provision of consular services to customers of the Finnish Embassy in Brussels, Belgium, starting on 1 October 2021. The Finnish Embassy in The Hague will continue to provide such regular consular services as passport services.Customers of the Embassy in Yangon, Myanmar, will be given consular services at the Finnish Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand, as before. The Embassy in Yangon will continue to provide consular services to persons in distress and offer other similar consular services, with due regard to the severity and urgency of the matter at hand. The provision of residence permit services will be transferred from the Finnish Embassy in Washington DC to the Consulate General of Finland in New York. This means that all other consular services except services related to residence permits will be available at the Embassy in Washington DC.
NordenBladet — Finland suspended its development co-operation with Afghanistan after Taliban wrested control of the country. Despite this, the results of the past 20 years of cooperation are not wasted, says Senior Specialist Merja Mäkelä. In the 2000s, women working in professions have, through their example, influenced attitudes in their communities on the social status of women in Afghanistan. Photo: VWPics / Press photoMerja Mäkelä worked as Special Adviser on Development Policy at the Finnish Embassy in Kabul from autumn 2020 until this summer.What did development co-operation achieve in Afghanistan?Significant progress has been made in Afghanistan particularly in education and health care. The status of women and children in Afghanistan improved, and both maternal and infant mortality was halved. Most girls were able to begin education, when girls were disallowed from attending school entirely the last time the Taliban were in power. The number of women in government increased considerably, and the latest figures for this year show that 36 per cent of teachers and 29 per cent of all officeholders were women. Women have been able to participate in local decision-making, and living conditions have improved in many areas.Freedom of expression has also improved over the past two decades, and Finland has supported the growth of a professional local journalist community through an NGO project. The project provided training for some 500 women journalists between 2009 and 2017.Operating conditions for the private sector improved thanks to new roads, better access to electricity, Internet connections and the adoption of an electronic tax return system, among other things. Development in the most critical industries, agriculture and mining, proved less successful as attracting investors to conflict zones is extremely difficult.Finnish aid money has been used to build schools and health clinics and improve water supply and sanitation.Finland has supported humanitarian mine actions to successfully clear mine and other explosives from the ground. In 2017, 80 per cent of Afghanistan’s land area where mines have been used had been successfully cleared, after which the amount of various explosives again began to rise.Afghanistan has been a country in conflict for several decades. As a result, development co-operation efforts have been difficult or impossible in many areas, particularly rural regions, as government and NGO employees have feared for their lives. The most significant progress was made in cities.How much of the aid went to supporting girls and women?Improving the status of girls and women was taken into consideration in all projects supported by Finland.For example, water supply in schools and villages and toilets built in schools have a direct impact by making life and schooling easier for girls. Teacher training was aimed particularly for women so that girls would have a chance to participate in the classroom. Schools were given funding based on the proportion which girls made up of pupils. In the geophysics project for the mining sector that improved the capabilities of the Afghanistan geological survey institute and Ministry of Mines to explore and control mineral resources, nearly half of the students trained for field work were women. In the MISFA microfinance programme by the World Bank’s Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund, around 70 per cent of borrowers were women who owned small businesses.Finland has been a staunch advocate of human rights in Afghanistan. Among other efforts, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs has helped give citizens the possibility to report on human rights violations against them through the Afghan Human Rights Commission (AIHRC).Finland has also given long-term support to the development and implementation of Afghanistan Action Plan 1325 on Women, Peace and Security, which guarantees women’s opportunities for meaningful participation in peacebuilding, reconstruction and conflict prevention.Are all these achievements now in vain?No, at least not entirely. Thanks to the long-term development co-operation by Finland and the international community, Afghanistan’s citizens are more educated, healthier and better informed. This is an achievement that will not go to waste.Women who have worked as teachers and doctors have changed Afghan society and the attitudes of both men and women in their communities. The same is true for numerous educated and influential women journalists, artists and human rights activists.For example, development co-operation strengthened local decision-making and increased the participation of women. More than 16,000 villages set up committees to manage the funds needed to provide basic services. In all these communities, women were able to become involved in decision-making.All in all, many areas of Afghanistan’s civil society have strengthened over the last two decades, including the media, NGOs and informal joint action by citizens. The Red Cross has helped establish a volunteer organisation in the country that continues to operate actively in the current crisis.Young people in Afghanistan, especially in cities, are networked and active on social media. Nothing like this happened when the Taliban were last in power.How do we know whether the aid got through?Finland’s bilateral aid to Afghanistan was sent primarily through international organisations, such as the World Bank, Unicef and the UN Entity for Gender Equality, UN Women. These organisations were also supported by many other donor countries and handled large sums of joint funding from an international community of donors.The use of funds by the World Bank’s Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund was regularly audited by a third party. The same was true of the water supply and sanitation project by Unicef. Third-party experts audited the projects’ accounts, payments, purchases and payrolls systematically and extensively. The results of projects in villages were also inspected by independent third parties.Development cooperation around the world is always done under difficult circumstances. In Afghanistan, rife corruption has presented a particular challenge. In 2019, more than 90 per cent of Afghans named corruption as a serious problem causing the most damage to ordinary people.Between 2014 and 2020, a total of five cases of suspected misuse of funds and abuse were reported related to development co-operation and humanitarian aid by Finland to Afghanistan. All of the cases were investigated.The most serious of these had to with suspected abuse uncovered in 2019 related to the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund, which is managed by the World Bank. Audits revealed inconsistencies in the way procurement guidelines had been followed and documented. The total sum concerned was USD 3.9 million, which the Afghan government repaid to the World Bank. Finland has been one of the project’s 19 funders since 2014.What happens now to development co-operation?It is too early to tell as the Taliban has not yet formed a government and it is not clear under what conditions aid organisations could operate in the country in the future.Several organisations backed by Finland, such as Unicef and MSIA Reproductive Choices, have been able to operate in Taliban-controlled areas in the past. They are likely to be able to continue their work in the country.Finnish CSOs together with their local partners are assessing the preconditions for continuing their activities. The Finnish Red Cross is carrying out a health programme in remote village communities that fall outside the reach of the public health care system. Fida is working on the Afghan dental health care programme in Herat Province together with its partner, Shelter Now International. The Family Federation of Finland and its local partner, MSIA Reproductive Choices, is providing reproductive and sexual health services at clinics.
NordenBladet — The Government has amended the decree restricting the activities of food and beverage service businesses due to the COVID-19 epidemic. The restrictions for the community transmission phase will be applied to food and beverage service businesses in Ostrobothnia.The decree will enter into force on Sunday 29 August 2021.Restrictions on food and beverage service businesses in the regions that are at the community transmission phase of the epidemic — Southwest Finland, Pirkanmaa, Kymenlaakso, Uusimaa, Satakunta, South Karelia and Ostrobothnia — from 29 August:Food and beverage service businesses may serve alcoholic beverages between 7.00 and 22.00 and be open between 5.00 and 23.00.Food and beverage service businesses that primarily serve alcoholic beverages may have only half the normal number of customer seats in use in their indoor and outdoor premises. Other food and beverage service businesses are restricted to 75 per cent of their normal number of customer seats in indoor and outdoor premises.All customers must have their own seat at a table or similar in both indoor and outdoor premises. Customers are instructed to stay seated in indoor premises. Businesses must draw up and provide their customers with instructions on how to enter or leave the premises or access the area designated for smoking or the toilets and washing facilities and how to collect their takeaway orders of food and drinks. In practice, dancing and karaoke, for example, are not allowed.Restrictions on food and beverage service businesses in the regions, hospital districts and cities that are at the acceleration phase of the epidemic — Kanta-Häme, Päijät-Häme, North Savo, North Karelia, Central Finland, South Ostrobothnia, Central Ostrobothnia, North Ostrobothnia and Kainuu as well as the Hospital District of South Savo and the city of Rovaniemi — from 29 August:Food and beverage service businesses may serve alcoholic beverages between 7.00 and 00.00 and be open between 5.00 and 1.00. Food and beverage service businesses that primarily serve alcoholic beverages are restricted to half of their normal number of customer seats indoors. Other food and beverage service business are restricted to 75 per cent of their normal number of customer seats indoors. As before, all customers must have their own seat by a table or counter when indoors. The number of customer seats on outdoor terraces is not limited. Restrictions on food and beverage service businesses in Åland, the Hospital District of East Savo and the region of Lapland, excluding the city of Rovaniemi, from 29 August: There are no separate restrictions on the number of customers or on licensing and opening hours.An exception to this applies to food and beverage service businesses in Åland. These businesses may serve alcoholic beverages between 7.00 and 00.00 and be open between 5.00 and 1.00.As before, all customers must have their own seat by a table or counter when indoors.The obligation to observe the general hygiene guidelines and to keep a safe distance applies in all areas.Exceptions to restrictions remain unchangedThe restrictions laid down in the decree do not apply to the activities of staff restaurants or to takeaway sales of food to customers. The restrictions on opening hours do not apply to food and beverage service businesses on vessels and aircraft that operate between Finland and other countries or abroad or to food and beverage service businesses that operate at distribution stations for liquid fuels.
NordenBladet — The new Act on the Electronic Processing of Client Data in Healthcare and Social Welfare has been adopted. The Act will enter into force on 1 November 2021. The new Act will repeal the current Act on the Electronic Processing of Client Data in Healthcare and Social Welfare. At the same time, the Act on Electronic Prescriptions and certain other Acts will also be amended.The new Act on the Electronic Processing of Client Data in Healthcare and Social Welfare will oblige enablers of social welfare services to join the national Kanta Services. The Act will also make it possible to disclose data on social welfare clients to other enablers of social welfare services through the Kanta Services. The obligation of private healthcare service enablers to join the Kanta Services has also been specified. Owing to the extensive obligation to join the Kanta Services, service enablers will have access to client data whenever they need it and they will also have the right to process it. Clients may decide themselves whether to authorise or ban the disclosure of their data to other service enablers. The authorisation to disclose client data is a new safeguard in line with the EU General Data Protection Regulation. In terms of its effects, it is comparable to the broad consent currently in use in healthcare, which is required for the disclosure of data in the Kanta Services. Clients will be able to save their own wellbeing data in information systemsThe new Act will expand the national information system services by making it possible for clients to save their own wellbeing data or data produced by different wellbeing applications in the new Personal Health Record (Kanta PHR) in the Kanta Services. Healthcare and social welfare professionals would get access to clients’ wellbeing data and could use it securely, provided that clients give their consent to this. In addition, clients could authorise another person to use the electronic services on their behalf.Act lays down provisions on saving client documents in Kanta ServicesThe new Act on the Electronic Processing of Client Data in Healthcare and Social Welfare sets transition periods during which client and patient documents must be saved in the Kanta Services. The Act’s transitional provisions will replace the current Decree of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health on National Information System Services in Healthcare.
In the 2000s, women working in professions have, through their example, influenced attitudes in their communities on the social status of women in Afghanistan. Photo: VWPics / Press photo