Finland - 2012
Does the law foresee the shift of the burden of proof in civil / administrative procedures? Are there problems of implementation reported by independent authoritative sources?
- Code:
- RED13
- Key Area:
- Anti-discrimination Legislation & Implementation
- Strand(s):
- Discrimination, Equality
| Short Answer |
Yes, national law contains a provision on reversed burden of proof. The problems have most to do with the lack of cases in courts. |
| Qualitative Info |
The Non-Discrimination Act (Section 17) provides: "During the hearing of a case as referred to in this Act, when a person who considers himself to have been a victim of discrimination as referred to in section 6 establishes before a court of law or other competent authority information from which it may be presumed that the prohibition of discrimination has been infringed, the defendant must demonstrate that the prohibition has not been infringed. This provision does not apply to criminal cases."
No assessment of implementation regarding the reversed burden of proof has been carried out. One problem is that the number of discrimination cases handled in courts and by the National Discrimination Tribunal of Finland is low.
In 2007, in its third report on Finland, ECRI noted that the provisions establishing a shared burden of proof, coupled with the availability of accessible avenues for redress represented by the Ombudsman for Minorities and the National Discrimination Tribunal of Finland, have resulted in better access to justice for victims of discrimination. However, although information is available on the cases of discrimination dealt with by these institutions, there is no comprehensive picture is available at present on the overall implementation of the Non-Discrimination Act, including for instance, the extent to which claims for compensation have been filed with and awarded by the courts and the number of cases dealt with by the Occupational Health and Safety Authority under the non-Discrimination. |
| Groups affected/interested | Migrants, Refugees, Roma & Travelers, Muslims, Ethnic minorities, Religious minorities, Linguistic minorities, Majority, Asylum seekers, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender, Persons with disability, Africans/black people, National minorities |
| Type (R/D) | Anti-migrant/xenophobia, Anti-semitism, Islamophobia, Afrophobia, Arabophobia, Anti-roma/zinghanophobia, Religious intolerance, Inter-ethnic, Intra-ethnic, Homophobia, On grounds of disability, On grounds of other belief, Anti-roma/ romaphobia, Xenophobia |
| Key socio-economic / Institutional Areas | Anti-discrimination |
| External Url | http://hudoc.ecri.coe.int/XMLEcri/ENGLISH/Cycle_03/03_CbC_eng/FIN-CbC-III-2007-23-ENG.pdf |
| Situation(s) |
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| Library |
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