Finns Complain About Racism

Finns are more frequently filing complaints with the Ombudsman for Minorities about incidents they consider racist. According to an annual report published by the office of the Ombudsman for Minorities, the worsening economic situation was reflected last year in a hardening of attitudes toward immigration.

It says that, for example, some Internet discussions took on a sharper tone.

However, alongside criticism of immigration, there was also a trend in the opposite direction. According to the Ombudsman it was striking how many Finns contacted the office after finding slurs against immigrants offensive.

There were 54 of these complaints registered last year. Over 40 percent were made by Finnish men who were reporting online racism. In addition to racism online, there were complaints by Finns of racial slurs on TV, in advertising, racist graffiti and even anti-immigrant slurs written in laundry reservation books.

Last year, the Ombudsman for Minorities dealt with over 700 complaints in total, just slightly more than the year before. Most of the complaints were filed by Romani, Russians and Somalis.

YLE(edited by Onyango Okeyo)