The United Nations has reprimanded Finland for infringing upon the rights of people in the country's Sámi region, reports Maaseudun tulevaisuus. The rebuke concerns the granting of two mineral exploration permits in Sámi territories.
The UN found, among other things, that Finland violated the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which encompasses the right of children to maintain their identity. The complaint involves three minor sisters from a Sámi family practicing reindeer herding according to the area's traditional siida system, according to the agricultural paper.
The UN committee found that when authorities granted the mining permits, it did so without a proper impact assessment and without appropriate involvement of the community.
"The State party [Finland] has not demonstrated how the process of granting the permit under the Mining Act correctly took into account the standards established in international human rights law for the participation of Indigenous Peoples, including Indigenous children, in the decision to grant the exploration permit on the authors' traditional lands used for reindeer herding, which affected their culture, identity and standard of living," the UN summary report noted.
The case concerns mining reservations in Finland's wild northwestern "arm". These mining proposals led to the formation of the grassroots movement "Ei kaivoksia Suomen Käsivarteen" (No Mines in Finland's Käsivarsi) in 2020, which collected around 40,000 signatures for a petition opposing the mining initiatives.
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More for your money
Iltalehti suggests there are bright spots on the financial horizon for households. Citing a fresh study from the Labour Institute for Economic Research, Labore, IL says most households will see more purchasing power before the year is over. This boost is mainly due to inflation slowing down.
Labore's study calculated purchasing power for different types of families, ranging from single-parent households to retirees.
But the benefits aren't distributed evenly. The institute reports that in terms of purchasing power between 2024 and 2026, the most significant losers will likely be single unemployed individuals receiving earnings-related unemployment benefits. However, when focusing solely on this year, single parents represent the biggest losers.
Train evacuation
Several Finnish MEPs aboard a Brussels-bound train were evacuated in Strasbourg on Thursday after an apparent explosion, reports Hufvudtsadsbladet.
Finnish MEP Anna-Maja Henriksson took to social media to write that some kind of explosion or fire occurred on the train just before departure and that everyone was ordered to evacuate.
According to the European Parliament, a technical incident occurred on the Eurostar train at Strasbourg station.
The train was chartered by the EP, which arranges special trains for its members and staff to travel between Brussels and Strasbourg.
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