Linguistic rights The Ministry of Justice is responsible for promoting the realisation of linguistic rights by monitoring the implementation and application of the Language Act and by issuing recommendations. The Unit for Democracy, Language Affai...

Fundamental rights The Ministry of Justice prepares the fundamental provisions relating to the Constitution and the public administration. These include the laws regulating the competency of the President of the Republic, the Parliament and the Go...

Rights of the Sámi people Ministry of Justice safeguards the rights of the Sámi people The Ministry of Justice supports the development of Sámi cultural autonomy and coordinates the handling of Sámi rights across the ministries. The Ministry of Ju...

Rights of the Sámi people Ministry of Justice safeguards the rights of the Sámi people The Ministry of Justice supports the development of Sámi cultural autonomy and coordinates the handling of Sámi rights across the ministries. The Ministry of Ju...

15.1.2026 | Today the Government decided in its plenary session to submit to Parliament the Government Report on the Application of Language Legislation in 2025. The report provides important monitoring data on the current state of Finland’s national languages and other indigenous languages and on the realisation of linguistic rights.

Finnish and Swedish Linguistic rights are based on section 17 of the Constitution . The Language Act contains more detailed provisions on the linguistic rights laid down in the Constitution, and it applies to the Finnish and Swedish languages. Eve...

Sign language The linguistic rights of sign language users are safeguarded under the Constitution of Finland. Pursuant to the Constitution, language groups have the right to maintain and develop their own language and culture, and the rights of pe...

Saami languages The Saami are the only indigenous people in Finland. According to data collected by the Saami Parliament, around 10,500 Saami people live in Finland. It is difficult to estimate the total number of people speaking the Saami languag...

In accordance with the Language Act (423/2003), the Government submits a report to Parliament each parliamentary term on the application of language legislation and the realisation of linguistic rights as well as, where necessary, on other linguistic conditions. In addition to Finnish and Swedish, the report discusses at least the Sámi, Romani and sign languages.

News Archive Language Report discusses realisation of linguistic rights Organization: Ministry of Justice Type: Press release Publication date: 15.1.2026 Hidden

Department for Democracy and Public Law The Department for Democracy and Public Law is responsible for tasks related to fundamental rights policy, legislation in the field of public law, and implementation of electoral and other participatory righ...

The goal of the project is to facilitate the participation of children and young people in policy-making at the national level. The goal is to develop methods, gather best practices and produce training materials on child participation and to provide relevant training for public authorities. The project in Finland is part of the joint European CP4Europe project, which is coordinated by the Council of Europe.

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News Language Report discusses realisation of linguistic rights Type: Press release Publication date: 15.1.2026 13.32 Proposal for a new Arbitration Act sent out for comments Type: Press release Publication date: 18.12.2025 12.16 Survey to gather ...

Current issues News RSS (Opens New Window) (Opens New Window) Language Report discusses realisation of linguistic rights Type: Press release Publication date: 15.1.2026 13.32 Proposal for a new Arbitration Act sent out for comments Type: Press rel...

We work for a strong rule of law The updated strategy of the Ministry of Justice strengthens the role of the Ministry of Justice as the ministry responsible for the rule of law and democracy. The six impact objectives of the strategy form the key ...

27.6.2025 | The aim of the legislative reform is to promote the realisation of Sámi people's right to self-determination and to improve the operating conditions of the linguistic and cultural autonomy of the Sámi and those of the Sámi Parliament. The Government proposes that the President of the Republic approve the amendments to the Act on the Sámi Parliament today. They will enter into force on the 1st of August 2025.

14.4.2019 | Linguistic rights 2 3 Linguistic rights are fundamental rights Pursuant to the Constitution of Finland, the national languages of Finland are Finnish and Swedish. Every person has the right to use their language, either Finnish or Swedish, when us...

26.11.2018 | This year's Nordic Saami language prize is awarded to Karin Tuolja from Jokkmokk, Sweden and Ekaterina Mechkina from Murmansk, Russia.

8.2.2018 | Report of the Government on the application of language legislation 2017 Government publications 10/2017 Government publications 10/2017 Prime Minister’s Office, Helsinki 2017 Report of the Government on the Application of Language Legislation 201...