The Constitution provides citizens with the right to peacefully change their Government, and citizens exercise this right in practice through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of universal suffrage. Women are fairly well represented in Government. The Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defense as well as the Associate Minister of Finance are women, as are the Speaker of Parliament and the President of the Bank of Finland. In 1995 Parliament passed quota legislation for all state committees, commissions, and appointed municipal bodies, requiring a minimum of 40 percent membership from each sex. Section 4 Governmental Attitude Regarding International and Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human Rights A number of human rights groups operate without government restriction, investigating and publishing their findings on human rights cases.
Government officials are very cooperative and responsive to their views.
The law prohibits any discrimination based on race, sex, religion, disability, language, or social status, and the Government effectively enforces these provisions. In the past several years, the problems of racism and xenophobia in Finland have received increased attention from the Government and the public. In February a ministerial group headed by the Associate Minister of Education prepared a report that became the basis for new government measures to combat racism and xenophobia. These measures include a mechanism that allows officials to intervene sooner, and at a lower level, in race-related incidents. According to an ongoing university study of the image of minorities in the media, the media tend to reinforce popular prejudices by reporting on minorities only when problems arise.