Report: Anti-Semitism has risen in Finland over the past five years

Experiences and views of anti-Semitism in Finland – A report on discrimination and hate crime targeting Jews’ is a new report indicating that the majority of people who identify as Jews feel that anti-Semitism has risen in Finland in recent years.

In the respondents’ experience, the greatest issue is the anti-Semitism that manifests on the Internet and social media and in traditional media and political discourse. The respondents expressed that they have experienced anti-Semitism from the right wing, the extreme left and in Islamist contexts, among others. The most common grounds for experienced discrimination are ethnic background or immigrant background. However, only eight per cent of the people who had experienced discrimination had reported their case to the police or a supervisory authority. Still, the respondents in the study had a high level of trust in the authorities and the Finnish legal system.

The report on anti-Semitism in Finland is based on the anti-Semitism survey prepared by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA). This makes it possible to compare the results with other European countries. The respondents to the survey are persons aged 16 or over living in Finland who identify as Jewish on the basis of religion, culture, education, ethnicity, family relationship or some other reason. Depending on the method of calculation, the respondents make up approximately 17–22 % of the Jews living in Finland.

Anti-Semitism is a little-studied issue in Finland, and the discrimination and hate crime experienced by Jews living in Finland have never been surveyed before. This recently published report fills in some of the blanks and provides important information on the state of anti-Semitism in Finland for decision-makers and for the authorities, researchers and experts who work in human rights, equality and security. At the same time, the report offers recommendations for combating anti-Semitism and promoting the human rights and equality of Jewish communities.

The report was prepared by Mercédesz Czimbalmos and Dóra Pataricza, researchers at the Polin Institute, which operates in connection with Åbo Akademi University, on a joint assignment from the Human Rights Centre and the Ministry of Justice. The study was launched in spring 2023, and the active data collection phase was carried out in October and November of that year.

Read

Experiences and views of anti-Semitism in Finland – A report on discrimination and hate crime targeting Jews (PDF, in Finnish)

Further information

Susan Villa, Specialist, Human Rights Centre tel. +358 (0)9 432 3738, firstname.lastname@ihmisoikeuskeskus.fi
Mia Luhtasaari, Senior Specialist, Ministry of Justice, tel. +358 (0)29 515 0130, firstname.lastname@gov.fi