A group of people on Saturday urged the Finnish government to enact tougher law against sexual abuse.
They placed the demand from a demonstration held in Helsinki city centre organised by the Support Organisation for the Survivors of Sexual Violence (Setu ry).
Simultaneously, the organisation coordinated six other protests in Lahti, Tampere, Kajaani, Jyväskylä, Joensuu, and Kuopio.
Dozens of protesters gathered at the Senate Square in Helsinki and held a rally expressing solidarity with survivors and victims of sexual violence.
Earlier they brought out a procession, which reached in front of the parliament building through Aleksanterinkatu and Mannerheimintie.
They carried banners with various messages such as “No more silence, no more sexual violence,” “Rape is a life sentence for the victim,” “It is not only a crime, it is a trauma,” and “Blame belongs to the perpetrator, not the victim.”
Speakers at the rally urged the Finnish government to take necessary measures including tougher law to stop sexual violence in the country.
Participants at the rally chanted slogans including “No more silence, stop sexual violence” and “My body, my choice.”
Sarianna Pylkkänen, coordinator of the organisation in Uusimaa told Daily Finland that the organisation wants to continue the tradition of annual protests to raise awareness about sexual abuse.
“Right now, the enforcement of the law still fails to reflect the gravity of the crimes, such as in the Malmi case,” said Sarianna, referring to the incident that inspired the founding of 0 organisation, when charges of aggravated rape were dismissed against three men who abducted a 17-year-old girl from Malmi hospital and assaulted her in the hospital courtyard.
“Sexual violence is affecting teenagers. There is a reason the legal age of adulthood is set at 18,” she added, in defence of raising the age of consent for sexual activity from 16 to 18 years old.
“At 16, young people may not always have the capacity to understand what constitutes a safe situation and what does not.”
While advocating for the correct enforcement of penalties and for raising the legal age of consent remain as central demands for the movement, its mission extends beyond calls for stricter regulations to combat sexual offences.
“We want to have a comprehensive social change. We don’t just want to blindly toughen the penalties and put people in jails, we want people and society to change” said Pylkkänen, who believes in the power of shifting public attitudes as a doorway to lasting solutions.
The organisation is also planning to run awareness campaigns in schools aimed at promoting understanding of consent, encouraging minors to identify and report abusive behaviours, and helping remove the stigma experienced by victims.
It also plans to provide what Pylkkänen describes as “low-threshold support” for survivors.
This includes promoting trauma-informed therapies such as somatic breathwork and bodywork practices.
“We are planning to have legal advisory and translation services, as we understand that not all victims speak Finnish”, Sarianna added.
An Amnesty International survey released earlier this year, based on over 1,000 responses collected in 2024, found that 36 percent of respondents showed little or no trust in public authorities handling sexual violence cases.
Data collected for the same report also showed that 55 percent of participants doubted that victims would receive fair and just treatment from Finnish authorities.
In late 2024, Statistics Finland reported that half of women aged 16–25 had experienced physical violence, sexual violence or threats of violence. One in five of them reported being subjected to serious violence or rape.
- Demonestration
- Sexual violence
- Helsinki
Source: www.dailyfinland.fi
