Racism|The cities see no need to update the guidelines, despite the acts of violence in Oulu.
With several According to STT’s report, Finnish cities have guidelines that combat discrimination and promote equality. Cities have adopted them in recent years. In many cities, various actors in the cities have also been encouraged to create safe space principles and practices in their public spaces.
The guidelines of many cities are very general in nature. The creation of more detailed instructions is left to be determined by the different service and offices.
In Finland, serious acts of violence occurred in Oulu’s Valkea shopping center in June. According to the police, there are clear indications of racism and hate crimes in both cases.
The city of Helsinki has not updated or given special instructions at the city level to its personnel working in the city’s public spaces after the events in Oulu.
The management team of the city of Oulu has a personnel director Tuomas Halonen discussed the possibility of extending the safe space principles drawn up at lower levels also to industries where they have not yet been applied.
The cities of Turku, Tampere and Jyväskylä do not take a position on whether there has been a need to change the guidelines due to the incidents.
Helsinki the expert responsible for equality and non-equality issues at the City Office Tuija Mustajärvi according to the city of Helsinki already has an operating model for dealing with hate speech, which can also be applied to dealing with racist behavior. The model was introduced last year.
According to him, the city’s public spaces vary so much in terms of their environment that no detailed operational guidelines can be created.
“The basic starting point of the operating instructions is that racist behavior or speech must always be addressed. According to the instructions, situations must be dealt with respectfully, firmly and taking into account the age of the participants,” says Mustajärvi.
The instructions specify that, if necessary, it is also possible to ask other people, such as the police, for help if the situation becomes threatening or violent.
According to Halonen, the city of Oulu also has instructions and training on anti-racism activities. According to him, the central principle is that racist behavior is dealt with directly if the situation allows it. However, according to Halonen, the main part of the anti-racism guidelines is focused on the city’s lower operational levels.
in Tampere a new equality and equality plan was introduced last year. As part of the prevention of discrimination and racism, each city unit must, according to the instructions, create the principles of a safe space suitable for its own operations.
The equality coordinator of the city of Tampere Mikko Ala-Kapeen according to the city strives to consult and involve user groups and employees of different services so that the principles are internalized and suitable for the service.
“Without further steps that are thought through to the end, the principles remain as upper-level room tables and do not work as an everyday tool in the prevention of discrimination and racism,” he says via email.
In Turku and Jyväskylä, racist behavior has been taken into account as part of the cities’ other instructions. According to the cities, all inappropriate behavior is dealt with.
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