The Finnish League for Human Rights (FLHR)

The Finnish League for Human Rights (FLHR)
Finland visit website

The Finnish League for Human Rights (FLHR) is a religiously and politically independent general human rights organisation founded in 1979 and pursues the work of the League for Human Rights, established in 1935. Our principal objective is to monitor the human rights situation in Finland.

The FLHR is a member of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and a founding member of the European Association for the Defence of Human Rights (AEDH). It acts as the National Focal Point of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) since 2000.

One of our thematic focus areas is work against gender based violence. The Whole Woman project has worked since 2002 to tackle female genital mutilation (FGM) and since 2010 to tackle honour-based violence (HBV) in Finland. Both immigrants from the affected communities and Finnish authorities require more information, guidance and better tools to address the issues constructively.

The Whole Woman works to prevent FGM and HBV by offering information, advice and training as well as doing advocacy work. We work closely with various migrant organisations and communities, other CSO’s as well as Finnish authorities. We were involved in planning the National Action Plan for the Prevention of circumcision of Girls and Women (2012-2016). We also coordinate national networks against FGM and HBV in Finland.