[4] Amnesty International has expressed concern regarding some issues in Finland, such as alleged permitting of stopovers of CIA rendition flights, the imprisonment of objectors to military service, and societal discrimination against Romani people and members of other ethnic and linguistic minorities.
[8][9] Advocated by early liberal thinker and member of parliament of Finnish origin Anders Chydenius, Sweden adopted one of the first freedom of the press acts in 1766.
The act abolished the previously mandatory pre-press censorship of printed works, although blasphemy and outright criticism of the monarch remained forbidden.
Some leftist works were banned in the 1930s whereas during the era of Finlandization, major news outlets practiced self-censorship in order to not antagonize the Soviet Union.
In April 2016 Finland's national broadcaster Yle became under pressure from the Finance Minister Alexander Stubb and tax authorities to hand over information related to the extensive Panama Papers data leak.
Alexander Stubb has repeatedly expressed his willingness to forgive all financial crimes related to tax havens (last time in his statements during the Government hearing in the Parliament in connection to Panama Papers).
[12] Finland's tax authorities have threatened to secure search warrants to raid Yle's premises and journalists’ homes in pursuit of the Panama Papers.
[14] In 1907, Finland adopted universal suffrage, making the nation one of the first to allow all adult citizens, regardless of wealth or gender, to vote and stand for election.
[20] Human rights organisations, including Amnesty International, have criticised the lack of action to fulfill the needed services for the victims of gendered violence, listed in the resolution of the Istanbul Convention.
[34] On 1 February 2023 the Parliament of Finland passed a law which removed the requirement of sterilization and a psychiatric diagnosis for transgender people who wished to legally change their gender.
[38] Children cannot choose whether they study their religion or ethics (elämänkatsomustieto), rather it is determined either by whether the child belongs to a religious community or not or, in some cases, by their parents.
Even though the teaching of religion in schools is de jure non-confessional, the Freedom of Thought report states that it "is substantively biased or borderline confessional".
[44] Because it remains longer than the minimum time spent in military service, Amnesty International views it as a punitive measure.
[22] In 2011, the government of Finland granted arms export licenses to twenty-five countries in contravention of European Union guidelines.
In October 2011, the Finnish Ministry of Defence granted export licenses for the transport of sniper rifles and ammunition to Kazakhstan.
[46] Again as an example, in December 2011, a Chinese restaurant in Ideapark Lempäälä was ordered to pay €298,000 for migrant workers' losses in tax, wages and penalties.
[48] During the Olkiluoto Nuclear Power Plant construction project, trade unions demanded equality in conditions for foreign workers.
[52] The charges related to publication of a report Cheap Has a High Price in 2013 by Finnwatch, a Finnish civil society organisation.
The report outlined allegations of serious human rights violations, as use of child labour, at Natural Fruit Company's pineapple processing plant in Prachuap Khiri Khan province in Thailand.
[53] According to the Finnwatch report in 2015 Tokmanni had also failed to adequately assess its suppliers and in exercising human rights due diligence in its own imports supply chains.
According to the report at Great Oriental, migrant workers had no visas or work permits and were paid illegally low wages.
[54] In March 2013, Erkki Tuomioja, the Finnish Foreign minister joined other nations in calling for stricter observance of human rights in the European Union.
[56] In January 2013, Open Society Foundations, a US human rights organisation, alleged that CIA flights had operated through via Finland in secret.
[57][58] In 2014, Kalla fakta, a Swedish television program, reported that Stora Enso used child work in its Pakistan activities and that the company was aware of this from 2012.
[60] On July 9, 2020, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) declared an Afghan applicant’s request inadmissible, in which he accused Finland for not giving him asylum and a residence permit to stay in the country.