Tuesday 8th of september 2009 the report "Strangers by Degrees - Attitudes toward Immigrants in the Åland Islands" by Bogdan State will be launched. An open seminar will be held in the City library of Mariehamn at 6 p.m, where the report will be introduced briefly in Swedish and subsequently the author Bogdan State will present his results in English.The present report is the third report in the series Reports from the Åland Islands Peace Institute concerning migration and integration on Åland. The first one, also by Bogdan State, concerned experiences of immigrants who live on Åland (2007); the second one, by Petra Granholm, examined the legal and institutional setting of migration policies on Åland, in comparison with Finland and in relation to EU norms (2009); finally, the present report, discusses perceptions and attitudes of Ålanders, understood as persons living on Åland, regarding issues of migration and integration. It is the result of a comprehensive survey done on Åland in the autumn of 2008.

The Åland islands Peace Institute is now presenting a new report in the series Report from the Åland Islands Peace Institute. The report deals with the legal framework for integration of newcomers to Åland and to Finland. It is written by Ms Petra Granholm.The autonomous Åland Islands in the middle of the Baltic Sea, but in the periphery of both Finland and Sweden, are often cited as one of the most successful examples of minority protection. The Autonomy Act with its roots in a decision by the League of Nations in 1921, grants the Swedish-speaking islands guarantees for its language, culture and traditional customs.Åland has been viewed as a homogenous society, but has now 82 countries and 51 languages represented within a population of 27 500 inhabitants. Multicultural Åland raises a number of questions, both regarding minority rights issues and integration policies. How flexible and welcoming can the islands be without stepping on the toes of a system of autonomy that has proved successful for many years, and wants to stay successful for many years to come? The report is written in Swedish and includes a summary in English.The report can be downloaded here.

The Åland Islands Peace Institute's former trainee Gustav Blomberg participated in a minority conference at 21 November at the Hanaholmen Cultural Centre for Sweden and Finland. Among others the particpants discussed the position of the Finnish minority in Sweden, the revival of the Estonian-Swedish culture and the link between language and identity. At the conference the Ålandic member of the Finnish Parliament Elisabeth Nauclér adressed the Åland example and the Ålandic cultural autonomy. Gustav's report about the conference in Swedish can be read here.

 

The director of the Peace Institute, Sia Spiliopulou Åkermark, participated on the 9th and 10th October in an international conference arranged by the Council of Europe. The aim of the conference was to assess the protection of national minorities ten years after the entry into force of the first binding international treaty on this subject: the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. The conference was held under the theme “Enhancing the impact of the Framework Convention: past experience, present achievements and future challenges”The report The impact of the Framework Convention for the Protection of NationalMinorities in selected countries of Western Europe after two monitoring cycles presented by Sia Spiliopoulou Åkermark at the conference can be downloaded here. More information on the conference can be found here.

During the autumn of 2008 Petra Granholm will be working at the Åland Islands Peace Institute with a overview of the legal framework for the integration of migrants in the Ålandic society. Throughout the years, Petra has been involved in the youth work of the Peace Institute in various ways, including participation in international youth exchanges and conferences. As an intern at the Peace Institute  during the summer/autumn of 2007 Petra wrote the report  “The Saami Right to Participation in Environmental Matters” (Ålands Fredsinstituts rapportserie nr 1-2008). After  concluding her studies in public international law at Åbo Akademi University Petra was working with a project on the Right to Political Participation of the Roma People at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law in Lund, Sweden.

Petra Granholm from the Åland Islands Peace Institute has participated in the EURASIA-Net –  Transregional Summer School: Europe South Asia Exchange on Supernational (Regional) Policies and Instruments for the Promotion of Human Rights and the Management of Minority Issues 25 August – 5 September 2008. 18 participants from various countries in Europe and South Asia came together at the European Academy in the beautiful city of Bolzano/Bozen in South Tyrol to learn, compare and discuss the different situations, including existing (and non-existing) standards for minority rights protection in the two regions. Read more about the network and the project at the website of EURAC.

The Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland has awarded 20.000 euro for a research project comparing the legal framework and experiences concerning minority education in Finland and Sweden. The countries shall be compared to each other but also be compared to the relevant rules set up by the Council of Europe. The project responsible are associate professor Sia Spiliopoulou Åkermark, director of the Åland Islands Peace Institute and Dr. Kristian Myntti, head of research, Åbo Akademi University (department of law).

 

The Åland Islands Peace Institute arranged in cooperation with the Åland Peace Association, the Red Cross, the Multicultaural Society of Åland and the Workers' Educational Association a seminar about the situation of the Roma people in Europe. The seminar took place on Monday 28th April in the Parliament Building in Mariehamn.Contributors at the seminar were Ingrid Schiöler from the Red Cross in Sweden and Gunnar Jansson, first deputy speaker of the Åland Parliament and former chariman of the Roma Delegation in Finland. Ingrid Schiöler gave an insight to the historical and cultural background of the Roma people and said that the persecution and discrimination they have experienced, and still are experiencing, makes many Romas suspicious of the representants of the majority people. Gunnar Jansson, who talked about European Roma politics, stressed that the Roma must be given opportunities to participate in decisions concerning themselves, especially on a local level where most everyday matters are resolved.They both pointed out that problems emerge when people in welthy societies react to the living standard of newcomers, still, the housing situation and possibility to provide for themselfs can for the newcomers be much better here than in their homeland.

The book ”International obligations and National Debates. Minorities around the Baltic Sea”, published by the Åland Islands Peace Institute and edited by Sia Spiliopoulou Åkermark has recently been reviewed in two scholarly journals.The essays in the book offer an analysis of minority policies in the ten countries around the Baltic Sea. The authors represent law, political science, linguistics, history, sociology and other disciplines.In "Nordisk tidskrift for menneskerettigheter", Caroline Taube concludes that different definitions of the term ”minority” can be political hot stuff, and therefore also contributes to the important debate about minority questions. Caroline Taube highlights the presentation about Finland, which gives a very good overview of minority issues in the country. She states that the book includes a lot of highly interesting reading, and she praises the interdisciplinary approach. Read the whole review here [pdf 48K].Anders Fogelklou reviews the book in "Review of Central and East European Law". He finds the contributions about the situation in the post-communist countries of special interest, and describes the texts about Estonia, Latvia and Russia as excellent. Anders Fogelklou states that the volume gives an excellent insight in minority problems and minority legislation around the Baltic Sea. “The book should be read by all interested in minority problems and their legislative solutions”, he concludes. Read the whole review here [pdf 200K].

In Report from the Åland Islands Peace Institute No 1-2008, Petra Granholm analyses the rights of the Sami people to take part in decisionmaking in environmental issues. She compares the legal regulations about the right to participation of the Sami people in Finland, Norway and Sweden. Petra Granholm also compare these regulations with the countries' commitments under international law.

This report gives a better understanding of the practical consequences of the legal regulations.

The report, which is in Swedish, can be downloaded here.

Bogdan State, who worked as an intern at the Åland Islands Peace Institute in the summer of 2007, carried out a study on the integration of non-Nordic migrants in the Åland Archipelago. This sociological study presents data on the situation of the migrants and their perceptions regarding integration in the Ålandic society.The study covers most immigrant groups in the Ålandic capital of Mariehamn equally, with the notable exception of Asians and the unemployed, two categories which we believe require further investigation. Bogdan State finds that immigrants face similar barriers to labor market integration as they do on mainland Finland. The report documents a high level of reported first-gate rejection for migrants, a problem faced in particular by Middle Eastern and ex-Soviet migrants. These two groups are also the main victims of “degree inflation”, their educational credentials being discounted by disbelieving employers.The results by-and-large confirm ÅSUB’s findings regarding discrimination, non-Nordic migrants being more likely to be discriminated on the islands, levels of discrimination being correlated with the ethnic hierarchy discussed above. Migrants to Åland are moderately satisfied with government action, while a sizeable proportion of them are not fully aware of their social security entitlements. The respondents hold Ålandic schools in high regard, but it is unclear in what ways their opinions are related to the schools’ pursuing multicultural policies.Download the report here.

Den 16 november 2007 ordnar Ålands fredsinstitut ett seminarium om minoritetesfrågor i Östersjöområdet. Seminariet "Minority Policies in Transition" är en uppföljning av forskningsprojektet och boken International Obligations and National Debates: Minorities around the Baltic Sea (red. Sia Spiliopoulou Åkermark), som fredsinstitutet gav ut 2006.Medarrangörer är Centrum för multietnisk forskning vid Uppsala universitet och det s.k. Gamla torget-samarbetet vid Uppsala universitet. Seminariet finansieras med stöd från Nordiska kulturfonden och Gamla torget-samarbetet.I seminariet medverkar 16 minoritetsexperter från hela Österjöområdet. OSSE:s kommissionär för nationella minoriteter Rolf Ekeus kommer att hålla ett inledningsanförande.Programmet kan laddas ner här.

Åland l andskapsregering har nu presenterat sitt språkpolitiska program som ska diskuteras i lagtinget den 19 mars. Programmet föreslår fyra huvudsakliga åtgärder: 1) tillsättandet av en språknämnd; 2) återkommande undersökningar av språksituationens utveckling på Åland; 3) ökat samarbete med finlandssvenska organisationer; samt 4) utökade kontakter med Sverige inom områden som handel, vård, utbildning och kultur.Ålands fredsinstituts direktör Sia Spiliopoulou Åkermark kommenterar det språkpolitiska programmet ur folkrättsligt perspektiv i en debattartikel i lokalpressen. Läs debattartikeln samt det språkpolititiska programmet .