Post title from the lead paragraph for better context. I prefer original ones but felt it missed the beat somewhat. Hope I didn’t add much bias.
Article:
"Finland to criminalise Holocaust denial, probe banning swastika use
The four-party government coalition revealed the contents of its anti-racism statement at a press conference on Thursday afternoon.
The four parties comprising Finland’s coalition government unveiled their highly-anticipated joint statement on eradicating racism and promoting equality within Finnish society at a press conference on Thursday afternoon.
The statement comes in the wake of a summer of racism and far-right scandals — mostly involving ministers from the Finns Party — that engulfed the new government and led to the appointment of a working group tasked with proposing concrete measures to tackle racism and discrimination.
PM Orpo opened the press conference by noting that “racism is still a problem in Finnish society” before revealing how his administration will set about addressing the issues.
The measures include plans to criminalise Holocaust denial, Orpo said. The government will also probe the possibility of outlawing the political use of certain symbols, including the swastika as used by Nazi Germany as well as the hammer and sickle that appeared on the former Soviet Union flag.
State Secretary Risto Artjoki, who chaired the working group, noted however that such a ban would be “legally challenging” and it was not possible to draft a proposed change in legislation on such a tight schedule as the working group faced.
Promoting equality in schools, workplaces
In terms of other measures, the government plans to launch a development programme aimed at promoting equality in Finnish schools, with an added emphasis on getting more children from immigrant backgrounds into early childhood education.
The measures also include an initiative to tackle workplace discrimination, with legislative changes planned that will roll out harsher punishments for discriminating against employees or colleagues. The government also wants to encourage more women from immigrant backgrounds to enter the workforce.
Finns Party leader, and Deputy PM, Riikka Purra — who was herself caught up in one of the summer’s racism scandals — told the press conference on Thursday that the government’s statement is intended to send a clear message about its stance on racism.
“There should be no ambiguities for anyone reading the statement,” Purra said.
Coalition to continue
The fallout from the series of summer scandals had led to widespread speculation that the four parties may not be able to continue in the current coalition, with the opposing views of the Finns Party and the Swedish People’s Party (SPP) deemed to be a particular problem.
However, SPP leader Anna-Maja Henriksson said the agreement reached by the four parties on the anti-racism statement was “historic” and proved her party can work with their coalition partners.
“For the SPP, the preparation of this statement has also been a matter of whether we are able to participate in the coalition or not,” Henriksson stated, adding that the statement was a clear indication that the government does not accept any form of racism.
She also noted that this stance on racism applied to the individual ministers too, a sentiment echoed by PM Orpo.
“Each government minister denounces racism and is committed to actively working against racism in Finland and internationally,” Orpo said.
He also stated that the government will provide sufficient funding to achieve the measures set out by the anti-racism statement.
The government’s statement will next be handed over to Parliament, where it will be debated by MPs next week."
