The website of the Finnish state's 'I Am Antiracist' campaign — a joint initiative by the Ministry of Justice and the Non-Discrimination Ombudsman — has recently been taken down. The site, olenantirasisti.fi, is maintained by the justice ministry and currently states that the campaign has ended.
The Non-Discrimination Ombudsman Kristina Stenman tweeted about the site's closure on Thursday, which she said came as a surprise.
"We were informed yesterday that it was removed [by the justice ministry] last week. We were not aware of this. The carefully edited material on the site is important for anti-racist work," Stenman said on Twitter.
The archival website Wayback Machine shows that the antiracism site was still online on 21 June, one day after the new government took office.
Government change led to site removal
According to a recent press release from the Ministry of Justice, the campaign ended in February 2022 and the site was linked to the previous government's anti-racism agenda and was due to be removed at the change of government.
"We have been in discussions with the communications office of the Non-Discrimination Ombudsman about closing the campaign site since the campaign ended in the middle of last year," the release said.
Katriina Nousiainen, a special adviser to the Ministry of Justice, told Yle that the decision to close the site at the end of the new government term was an internal one.
Prime Minister Petteri Orpo's (NCP) programme for government does not include any specific details on anti-racism or anti-racist work, but Orpo is expected to announce measures to tackle the issue during parliament's autumn session.
Nousiainen also said that the Ministry of Justice's equality.fi website will be updated in the near future and that the material on the antiracist page will simultaneously be reviewed.
Campaign set up under previous government
The website campaign aimed at young adults was launched in September 2021.
The campaign was one of the measures in a government action plan against racism that was adopted in autumn 2021 under the then Minister of Justice Anna-Maja Henriksson (SPP).
The campaign was mainly funded by the EU.
New justice minister previously criticised campaign
Current Justice Minister Leena Meri (Finns) has previously criticised the campaign in an article in Suomen Uutiset.
"So the campaign even defines hate speech, even though it is not defined in the legislation. And of course hate speech is defined as being mainly directed at immigration. It is intolerance, but who defines it is again something that is not being said," Meri told Suomen Uutiset.
Meri's Finns Party has recently come under fire for connections to the far-right and violent racist comments.
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