Imprisonment of conscientious objectors in Finland
Use this form to send the letter below to the relevant authority (Tarja Halonen, President of the Republic of Finland). You can add your own notes in a separate box after the standard text, if you wish. You must include a name, address, and email address; a copy will be sent to you with a cc to the WRI office (so we have a record of how many email letters have been sent out for this particular case).
Dear Mrs President Tarja Halonen
I am very concerned about the imprisonment of conscientious objectors in Finland. I learned today that total objector Aleksi Uski started his prison term recently, as one of 24 total objectors who were in prison as of 2 March 2004.
Both the extended substitute service time and economical discrimination of COs are clearly in breach of UN resolutions and the 1987 Council of Europe recommendation regarding CO. To imprison total objectors solely due to their belief could also be said to be against the UN Declaration on Human Rights, which declares that all states should prevent the judicial system from forcing people to change their conviction.
I therefore urge you to immediately release all imprisoned conscientious objectors. I urge you to respect human rights.
- Sign and send this protest email