Solicitud directa (CEACR) - Adopción: 2024, Publicación: 113ª reunión CIT (2025)

Convenio sobre las peores formas de trabajo infantil, 1999 (núm. 182) - Finlandia (Ratificación : 2000)

Articles 6 and 7(2)(b) of the Convention. Programmes of Action and effective and time-bound measures. Direct assistance for the removal of children from the worst forms of child labour and for their rehabilitation and social integration. Sale and trafficking of children. The Committee notes, from the Government’s report under the Protocol of 2014 to the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (the Protocol), the indication that a Working Group was established to prepare the Action Plan Against Trafficking in Human Beings. The Action Plan, which was implemented between 2021 and 2023, was based on five strategic objectives and 55 actions. It promoted the detection of human trafficking, improved the standing of victims and enhanced the establishment of criminal liability. The Committee notes the detailed list of measures undertaken within the framework of the Action Plan, but it notes that no information is provided on measures specifically aimed at combating trafficking in children and detecting child victims. In its report under the Protocol, the Government also refers to the ongoing Tehoa Project (2023–25), funded by the European Union Internal Security Fund, which: (1) aims to prevent and tackle trafficking in human beings; and (2) is permitting the preparation of a national referral mechanism (NRM) for the identification and guidance of victims of trafficking in human beings to promote the identification of victims and to secure access to assistance.

Further, the Committee notes that, according to the report of the Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings on Finland of 2024 (GRETA report): (1) the number of presumed victims of trafficking admitted to the National Assistance System increased from 229 in 2019 to 367 in 2022; (2) most victims (57 per cent) were female and around 7 per cent were children; (3) on 30 June 2022, there were 1,184 persons in the Assistance System, 949 victims (including 565 women and 30 child victims) and 235 underaged children of the victims; (4) in 2019, Finland published its Action Plan for the prevention of violence against children 2020-2025; and (5) both the National Rapporteur and the Ombudsman for Children expressed great concerns regarding children who run away from child protection institutions (around 1,000 cases a year) and who are at great risk of falling victim of trafficking. In this regard, GRETA noted that the measures taken are inadequate to protect runaway children and identify those who have fallen victims to trafficking. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the specific measures taken, including within the framework of the Action Plan Against Trafficking in Human Beings, the Tehoa Project and the Action Plan for the prevention of violence against children, to: (i) prevent and combat trafficking in children; (ii) identify child victims of trafficking and to provide them with the necessary and appropriate direct assistance for their removal from this worst form of child labour, and ensure their rehabilitation and social integration; and (iii) the results of the measures taken, including by providing up-to-date statistical information on the number of children identified and removed and who were rehabilitated and socially integrated.