The Vilén case|The ministry emphasizes that the data security breach related to the case is being investigated for the sake of the privacy of those affected by the harassment and not because they want to be blamed.
Finland Worked as head of the Ottawa representation Jari Vilén received a written warning for his actions on Wednesday. The reason for the warning was a violation of the civil servant’s behavioral obligations. Vilén’s actions met the definitions of inappropriate behavior, harassment and sexual harassment.
The written warning was supposed to mark a kind of end to the Vilén case, but from the meeting with journalists quickly convened by the ministry on Thursday, it could be concluded that the case is still raging.
Vilén’s new duties have not been decided in the ministry. The new assignment starts at the beginning of July, when Vilén’s command in Ottawa ends prematurely.
“A place for overall consideration”, stated the state secretary Jukka Salovaara from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the quality and scope of Vilén’s future tasks.
Vilén’s actions have been suspected of causing damage to Finland’s foreign relations. According to the Ministry, this is not the case.
“In Canada, the case has hardly even been noticed,” State Secretary Salovaara told HS after the event.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs according to which the coverage of the case has been partially distorted. State Secretary Salovaara stated at a background meeting for journalists that the public has created perceptions about the case that “do not match the facts”.
According to the ministry, there are two main distortions. First, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs says that it reacted to the reported harassment and that it did so promptly.
“When notifications came in, they were reacted to immediately,” Salovaara said.
Second according to the ministry, the distortion concerns a criminal report related to a data security breach of personal data in connection with the case.
Ministerial personnel director Kirsti Pohjankukan according to the public has been given to understand that the data security breach would have been investigated against those who reported the harassment.
“On the contrary, we wanted to protect their privacy,” Pohjankukka emphasized.
“The purpose has been to find out how the leak happened and that something similar could not happen in the future,” stated the data protection officer Juha-Matti Laasonen from the ministry.
According to him, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs makes similar notifications of data security breaches every year in dozens of cases where, for example, an email has been sent to the wrong address or a passport has been handed over to the wrong person.
Ministry has also been criticized for belittling the position of women in the working community. On Wednesday, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Administration’s civil service association Mari Neuvonen reviewed in HS the ministry’s way of handling the Vilén case. Vilén has been allowed to continue as head of the Ottawa representation during the investigation and also after the warning.
Neuvonen, who represents the personnel, estimates that the case shows how women are treated in the ministry.
Ministerial Thursday’s response to the staff’s criticism was that everyone is treated the same in the ministry, regardless of position or gender. The representatives of the ministry emphasized on several occasions the importance of employees’ well-being and the fact that there are working processes for cases of harassment.
Thursday foreign minister Elina Valtonen (kok) commented on the matter for his part in his Instagram update. On Wednesday, the public was surprised how Vilén had not been fired.
Valtonen appealed to strong protection against dismissal and stated that he has no legal means to interfere with an official evaluation or, for example, to dismiss for political reasons.
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