The Romani people came to Finland in the late sixteenth century from Sweden and Russia. As was the case all
over Europe, they were ill received. Their lifestyle, culture and language were considered alien. A law passed in
1637 made it legal to hang any Roma who resisted an expulsion order. In the seventeenth century, the Church
began to improve the living conditions of the Roma and to keep records of the group.
The clergy was
encouraged to make the Roma socially acceptable through baptism. All homeless wanderers were locked up in
workhouses, from which the Roma were later transferred to a penitentiary in Hämeenlinna on the basis of a law
passed in 1863. Even in the year 1900, a committee handling the “Gypsy issue” considered the best policy to be
the complete assimilation of the Romani people into the general populace. The main assimilation methods were
children’s education and registration. The Roma were seen as children who must be educated and monitored.
It was a long time before the government made any new forays into Romani policy. In 1953, the government
set up a Gypsy Committee, whose task was to “examine the Gypsy issue, particularly the assimilation of
Gypsies into normal social life, their emplo
yment and compulsory educa81 tion”. In 1956, the government tasked
the Advisory Board on Gypsy Affairs (now the Advisory Board on Romani Affairs) with monitoring and following
the development of the social circumstances
of the Romani population, making the necessary improvement
proposals. The Advisory Board is the main nationwide organisation looking after the welfare of the Roma in
Finland. Radicals of the 1960s highlighted the failings in the living conditions of the underprivileged, trying to act
as the voice of the discriminated,
the poor, the sick and other minorities. Worth a particular mention is the
November Movement (innovation no. 82). 1960s radicalism also led to the 1967 petitionary motion in Parliament
for “the creation of a Committee to solve the problems of the Gypsies and the allocation of public funds for
practical measures”. This was the first motion that talked about looking after the “interests” of the Romani people
and to clearly emphasise the “right of the minority” to participate in it. Thus the Roma were awarded their first
representative in the Advisory Board.
The Romani issue had its most concrete aspect in the lack of housing, and in 1975
a temporary Special
Housing Act was passed, including a special funding system. The aim was that by the end of 1980, the housing
situation of the Roma would be the same as that of the population at large. The validity of the law was later
extended by one year. The law is an example of a special statute giving a specific ethnic group privileges and a
special status compared to the rest of the population
– in other words, affirmative action. Although the housing
conditions of the Roma improved significantly, it became apparent that the special statute could not improve the
circumstances of those who were worst off. Not all the targets set for the statute were met. Better ways of
improving the housing conditions of the Roma include, for example, constructing
more state-funded rental
housing.
The reformed Advisory Board on Romani Affairs gave a report in principle on the position of the Roma. The
report stated that Finnish society had always approached the Romani issue from the point of view of the majority
and never from that of the distinct Romani culture. This significant change in approach was reflected in a 1992
report of the Finnish Fundamental Rights Committee, which stated that all citizens must have equal rights to
legal protection, their own language and their own culture.
A fundamental rights reform was made to the Constitution Act in 1995. Of particular importance were the anti-
discrimination clauses: “No one shall, without an acceptable reason, be treated differently from other persons on
the ground of sex, age, origin,
language, religion, conviction, opinion, health, disability or other reason that
concerns his or her person.”
Origin refers to national, ethnic and social backgrounds. The term “origin” is
considered also to include the concepts of race and skin colour.
The law (now
the Finnish Constitution) states: “The Sámi, as an indigenous people, as well as the Roma and
other groups, have the right to maintain and develop their own language and culture.” The legislation therefore
specifically mentions two traditional minorities of the Finnish population: the Sámi (innovation no. 13) and the
Roma.
Mother tongue is an extremely important factor in identity-building. According to the Basic Education Act,
students with Sámi, Romani or sign language, or some other foreign language as their mother tongue, have the
right to receive instruction in their mother tongue for at least two hours per week. In 1996, the Research Institute
for the Languages of Finland set up a Romani Language Committee tasked with developing,
maintaining and
researching the Romani language. The Child Day Care Act (innovation no. 69) now also includes as a target
supporting the language and culture of Roma children in cooperation with representatives of the Romani culture.
The same policy had been adopted in all educational legislation related to primary and secondary education, as
well as senior secondary education for adults.
Today, Finland’s Romani population has full civil rights and civic duties. Finland’s Roma are considered by
themselves and by others to be both Finns and Roma. About 25% of Finnish Roma live in Sweden, and they
travel back and forth frequently. Most of Finland’s Roma live in urban areas, and most have permanent housing.
Most are members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland. Because many
receive less education and
training than most other Finns, they have a weaker financial and social status. There are about 10,000 Finnish
Roma. About half of the adults are unemployed, and the attitudes of employers make it difficult for them to find
employment.
The level of education of young Roma has noticeably improved in recent years. There is an education unit for
the Romani population at the Finnish National Agency for Education, and the University of Helsinki provides
Romani language and culture cou
rses. In 2012, the Finnish Literature Society published a history of Finland’s
Roma. Romani music is very much alive today. There are Romani journalists on the radio programme Romani
Mirits. Roma have been regularly invited to the annual presidential independence day receptions.
Kyösti Suonoja
– adjunct professor,
Romano Missio chairperson 2004
–2006
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