The World Changes Because It Is Changed

Platform of the Green League
Approved in the Annual Party Congress in Jyväskylä on 26 May 2002

Contents

The World Changes Because It Is Changed

Making Sustainable Development To Come True
Ecological Structural Change is Needed
To Renewable Energy
Agreeable Living Environments
Organic and Local Food
Good Everyday Life Is Most Important
Right to Work and Livelihood

Pluralism as a Starting Point
Every Voice Must Be Heard
Representative Democracy Must Be Developed
Equality Important in All Decision-making
Reality Is Multicultural

Think Globally, Act Locally
Causes of Migration Need To Be Tackled
European Union as a Responsible Actor in the World
The World Must Not Be for Sale
Towards Peace

The World Changes Because It Is Changed

The goal of the Green League is an ecologically and socially sustainable world. Human activities must be adapted to the carrying capacity of nature. Society has to be based on equality, joint responsibility and acceptance of diversity. The responsibility for other human beings and the environment extends across national borders: social and ecological challenges entail democratic decision-making at the local, national and supranational level.

A crucial change is needed in society's relationship to the environment. Welfare can be maintained only, if production and consumption become more eco-efficient. Building a sustainable society does not require reducing our well-being but an ecological structural change in which ecological, social and economic sustainability go hand in hand. Instead of material growth, qualitative growth, the flowering of information and service economy, and durable, eco-efficient products should be pursued. The growth of human capital, not the amount of goods, is typical of the new economy. Redirecting taxation to material consumption and to burdening nature is a central tool in the ecological structural change.

Tolerance and equality are the foundation of a sustainable society. Every person, regardless of personal characteristics, must have the right to be heard and to participate in decision-making in issues that pertain to her/his own life. Transparency in preparing and making decisions and the freedom of expression form the core of democracy. Openness and the expression of views should be fostered by actively offering opportunities for social participation. This development can be supported through building new communality and utilizing technical equipment that facilitates communication. Decision-making should make use of such equipment both locally and internationally. Representative democracy should be strengthened by increasing dialogue between the elected policy-makers and citizens. In this way new ideas and viewpoints are introduced, and the decisions made will have as strong legitimacy as possible. Ecology, justice and democracy presuppose one another, and they must be promoted together.

Irrespective of place of residence, every citizen has to have a chance to earn a reasonable living and to have a good everyday life. High quality social and health services as well as basic education must be available in all parts of Finland. If then earned income is not sufficient for living, it has to be supplemented with basic income.

Technology has reduced the significance of distance and time. Economic activity has globalized much faster than democratic decision-making. So far, democratic decision-making has not been able to respond to the problems caused by globalization. A supranational decision-making and legal system has to be built for controlling the supranational economy through drawing up a set of common ground rules to guide the activities of all the inhabitants, corporations and states of the globe. The European Union must take the initiative in the matter.

The threats to world peace are changing. For example, internal conflicts and controversies over natural resources have become more important than fighting between states. Global reduction of inequality, increase of social well-being, stabilization of the economy and dialogue between cultures remain the most efficient ways of promoting peace.

Making Sustainable Development To Come True

The precautionary principle, preventing damage at the source and the polluter pays principle are central to ecologically sustainable development. In order for society to be socially sustainable it needs to develop solutions for the high structural unemployment, marginalization and the increase of social differences. In a sustainable society, prerequisites for life control and nature-friendly lifestyles need to be created. Economically sustainable development is not based on a continual material growth and the using up of reserves but on working in harmony with nature. In a sustainable economy, the social and environmental impacts of production and consumption are under control during the products' whole life cycle.

Ecological Structural Change is Needed

A society based on continual pursuit of material growth is destructive to nature. The ecological sustainability of society requires an ecological change in the structures of the economy, securing biodiversity and the sustainable development of communities. In striving to reach these, qualitative growth, eco-efficiency, the precautionary principle, economic instruments and unprompted environmental responsibility of corporations and consumers are central means. Being ecological does not mean belittling social or cultural aspects, for they go hand in hand. The goal is a world where all societies function sustainably. Green growth is the growth of quality, know-how and well-being. The growth of the national economy has to be examined, in addition to the gross national product, with a “green GNP,” whereby environmental capital and the cost of burdening nature are taken into account. Many commodities seemingly inexpensive to the consumer really have a high price in the form of suffering of people or animals and destruction of the environment.

The economy of the future needs to use natural resources sparingly and strengthen the role of services. With technological development, the amount of raw materials now needed in the production of goods and services will be reduced to a fraction. New technology will not, however, suffice alone; direction from society, responsible business activity and changes in consumer habits are also needed. Eco-efficiency will benefit all. The markets for environmentally friendly products are growing, and this will lead to new inventions, increasing employment and new kinds of business opportunities.

Polluting the environment has to be made unprofitable through further development of environmental taxes, legislation and significant pollution fees. Additionally, voluntary agreements need to be made that motivate companies to environmental protection without stipulation.

The production of waste must be made as unprofitable as possible and recycling as inexpensive and convenient as possible. In reducing waste, taxation, legislation and agreements are necessary, but also guidance to consumers and firms on how to replace materials with others or how to reduce their use. All packages that cannot be recycled or reused must be taxed.

Finland has the responsibility for preserving its own original nature. Conservationists and landowners should be involved in the search for more sustainable means of utilizing natural resources and maintaining the vitality of rural areas. Landowners can be supported in fulfilling their responsibility through contracts concerning the upkeep of nature conservation forests subject to limited forestry within commercial forests and by encouraging through economic incentives the use of more ecological forestry practices. In southern Finland, habitat restoration in commercial forests is required in addition to reserves; more funds are needed for the environmental subsidies of forestry and nature conservation in forests subject to limited forestry.

In order to protect the Baltic Sea and other aquatic environments as well as to achieve a good ecological balance, the standards of sewage treatment in sparsely populated areas must be raised, the preparedness for oil spill response improved, the funds used for agricultural subsidies directed to environmental subsidies, the environmental effectiveness of the subsidies enhanced, collaboration with the neighbouring countries in water protection increased and the pollution caused by transport cut down.

Although the negative impacts of the most toxic chemicals have been reduced, the large and increasing number of chemicals in use is still a serious problem for both humans and the environment. A significant part of the effects of the chemicals now in use are still poorly known. The use of those suspected to be harmful must be limited in accordance with the precautionary principle.

Finland must be an innovative and active player in environmental policy on the international level – particularly within the European Union. The international treaty system has to be determinedly developed towards presenting the same objectives in environmental protection for all parties. Only thus will it be possible to prevent the transfer of production to countries trying to attract corporations with their undeveloped legislation in the fields of environment as well as occupational safety and health. The weight of environmental aspects in the international treaty system would be raised through the establishment of a sufficiently authoritative, intergovernmental environmental organization. International environmental protection also promotes security. A deteriorating environment is a cause for a significant part of the world's refugee problem.

To Renewable Energy

The Green energy policy is based on energy saving and favouring the use of renewable energy sources. New nature-friendly ways of energy production, energy-efficient technology and the eco-efficiency of production in general must be supported with public funds. Nuclear power, with all its risks, belongs to the past and has to be gradually phased out. Natural gas can be used during the transition period so that more polluting and dangerous sources of energy can be given up.

The climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time. The Kyoto Protocol was not the final solution. The emissions of greenhouse gases must be cut by 60% from the 2002 level by 2050; even this will not stop the climate change but only slow it down. To abate it, we have to determinedly orient ourselves towards to a new kind of energy economy based on renewable energy and energy-efficient technology. Traffic and urban planning also affect the climate change. The European Union must develop the taxation of energy and carbon dioxide as well as engage in cooperation on energy and climate matters both in the neighbouring areas and the developing countries. The possibility to decrease greenhouse gas emissions through emission quota trade has to be studied. During the next two or three decades, any post-Kyoto emission targets must lead to an equitable emission level, i.e. all the world's inhabitants must be equally unentitled to cause greenhouse gas emissions.

Agreeable Living Environments

Social and ecological sustainability find their practical applications in the immediate living environment. High-quality housing and a pleasant, accessible, safe and healthy environment are basic requirements for well-being. The needs of different resident groups need to be taken account of through e.g. participatory planning and comprehensive assessment of social impacts. The recreation and green areas of cities are important places for revival and meeting other people. Healthy and recyclable materials should be used in new construction, and ecological principles like eco-efficiency need to be applied. Additionally, the composting of organic waste has to be arranged. New and renovated buildings must be made accessible and suitable for lifespan housing.

When ecological principles are applied in planning and design, the result is a dense but pleasant community where public transport, pedestrian and bicycle traffic as well as public utilities function efficiently. Integrative community planning creates high environmental quality, local services and green belts that are sufficiently large.

The need for mobility, of both people and goods, can be lessened through a rational interplay between land use and transport policy. Cost and ease mean more than political opinions when people make their choices. That is why e.g. the using the train has to be easy and cheap whereas air traffic should be expensive. Accessible public transport must have a wide local and national coverage. Roads, communications infrastructure and services have to be kept at such a level that living in sparsely populated areas is a viable option.

In addition to nature, the built environment is part of our common heritage. History cannot be rebuilt. The conservation of buildings and traditional landscapes is part of sustainable regional and urban as well as local economic development policy. Public funding for the preservation of cultural heritage must be increased manifold. In the conservation of buildings, the values of milieus and landscapes have to be recognized alongside of individual buildings.

Organic and Local Food

Food is not just any commodity but a basic precondition of life. Everyone has the right to get food and to know its origin. Local retail shops and direct sale must be favoured in food delivery instead of large shopping centres. In cities, promoting different ways of delivering the everyday products directly to the consumer can reduce the use of the private car as a “shopping bag.”

Agricultural policy needs to create incentives for farmers to moving towards a more ethical and ecological production. Organic farming must be favoured and promoted consistently. A minimum goal is that 20% of the Finnish food consumption will be organic by 2010. Local food is worth favouring because of its good eco-balance. That also makes good regional policy. The agricultural subsidies must be maintained at a level that enables the continuation of the Finnish, family-based agriculture.

Internationally, the first priority has to be sufficient and safe nourishment for all. The more developed countries must open their market to the agricultural products of poor countries. At the same time, the latter have to be allowed to protect their own markets and develop their small-farms based agriculture. The agricultural subsidies of the industrialized countries must not weaken the food production of the developing countries or its position in the market. Finland must, in its relations with developing countries, act to rectify unjust land-ownership conditions.

Animal protection regulations have to be developed so that the well-being of animals is enhanced. Significant improvements are possible, in addition to supporting organic farming, also through tightening the animal protection standards of ordinary farming. A time limit must be set for the duration of transport of slaughter animals, and an EU wide prohibition of the transport of live slaughter animals from one country to another has to be striven for. Animals have a right to species-typical behaviour. For instance, fur farming as it is practised today is ethically unsustainable, and it must be phased out after a transition period. Ethically sustainable animal husbandry is key to the success of rural Finland in the future. The well-being of animals has also other considerable implications. The large decrease of grazing is threatening to lead to the extinction of hundreds of plant and animal species that essentially belong to the Finnish traditional landscape.

The right to clean food and drinking water belongs to all. Economic gain must not be prioritized over the basic needs of people or over nature. Environmental and health risks must not be taken, and the precautionary principle has to be followed in both biotechnology and other production. Research and development related to genetic engineering must be made transparent and open to consumers. In primary production, the genetical modification of animals and plants should be avoided. The international regulations on genetic engineering have to be rapidly developed.

Good Everyday Life Is Most Important

A functioning welfare society is based on sharing responsibility among the government, individuals, families and different kinds of communities. Well-functioning social networks – e.g. neighbours, relatives and friends – support both individuals and families and lower social risks. The task of the government is to ensure the fairness of income distribution and the necessary welfare services.

The social impacts of political decisions must be assessed in advance. In basic services, it is important to cater to the freedom of choice of the users as well as to neighbourhood and user democracy. The prerequisites of good life must be offered to all citizens from their own points of departure.

Children who are in danger of marginalization must be helped in time. Functioning public services can effectively prevent problems through identifying the difficulties of children and families and by intervening as early as possible. A family-centered approach is the most effective one both in human and economic terms. Supporting families is a rational investment of social capital and essential for social equality. Family benefits must be improved.

Diversity and supporting parents' freedom of choice need to be emphasized in the development of day care services. The best interest of the child must always be given first priority. The position of families with children must be improved by making it easier to reconcile work and family life and to share parenthood. Little school children must have a right to safe afternoons under the supervision of an adult. It has to be economically feasible for families to choose the option of home care of small children and other family members who need nursing. The situation of family caregivers must be enhanced by raising the rewards and increasing the number of days off they are entitled to. Additionally, the development of and experiments with communities' own care models must be encouraged.

Prevention must be emphasized in health promotion. Special attention needs to be paid to narrowing the socially based differences in health. A healthy environment is the most effective preventive health policy. The importance of health-promoting exercise for people of all ages must be emphasized, and it should be supported. Health services have to be comprehensive for all irrespective of the place of residence and the wealth of people. The patients' share of health care costs must not be raised. Regional experiments and open-mindedness need to be encouraged in organizing health care services. Integrative methods of treatment must be developed and more alternatives added. The gap between the traditional western medicine and different kinds of complementary treatments must be narrowed. All forms of health care have to be assessed critically, and public funding must be directed to those methods of treatment that are demonstrated to be effective. Financing the research of alternative methods with public funds has to be considered. Sufficient resources must be secured for the outpatient care of mental health rehabilitees, so that instead of institutional care they can build their everyday life leaning on the service system, but nevertheless independently. Mental health patients and disabled persons have a right to a home of their own and to the assistance and support services they need. Their opportunities for being full members of society with all related rights and responsibilities must be continually promoted. More resources than at present have to be invested in preventive mental health care, and research on the causes of the problems must be intensified.

Everyone has a right to a nonviolent environment. Violence – including latent – has to be warded off.

Regardless of where they live, elderly people must have the right to receive support for living in their own homes as long as it is possible. An old person's dignity and own will must be respected in arranging services. The elderly must also be guaranteed an equal right to use all civic services irrespective of their knowledge of technology.

A basic education maintained by society and funded with taxes is the most important precondition for the equality between citizens. The goal of education policy is to enable good and equal learning opportunities to all. Curricular choices made in the comprehensive school must not restrict the pupils' future possibilities. The comprehensive school needs to ensure children a peaceful and safe environment for learning and growing up. Teaching methods must be further developed towards problem-based and adaptive learning that develops cognitive skills. Children's ways to school must not become excessively long. The afternoon activities need to be developed in the direction of substituting for some of the evening hobbies. The practical and the theoretical subjects must be represented in the comprehensive school in a balanced way. The Finnish school system must support the official languages of our country, and, with those pupils having some other mother tongue, the learning of Finnish or Swedish as well as the pupil's own language. Education is a service, not a market commodity. Schoolchildren need to be secured supportive and special teaching services based on the their own needs. A wide all-round education is the basis of the Finnish know-how. The Greens value professional skill based on all-round education. The comprehensive school has to lay the foundation for lifelong learning supported by continuing education and a broad variety of adult education opportunities with associated benefits. Environmental and tolerance education, ways of managing the information overflow, interaction skills and reinforcing life control must be made part of all education. The school also needs to be developed as the working environment of teachers and other staff.

The attractiveness and appreciation of basic vocational training have to be enhanced in order to secure a sufficient supply of professionals. It is very important to ensure that secondary and higher education remain free of charge and that the quality of teaching is high everywhere in Finland. The two-sector higher education system must be developed into a working whole while keeping in mind the different goals of the polytechnics and the universities. Sufficient public funding will guarantee the existence of independent research and teaching based on it. A special student housing policy enables equal opportunities for seeking education from another locality. For the sake of equality of students it is important that pursuing full-time studies be possible without taking out a loan. Students, too, have to be entitled to income support.

Welfare services and the right to a safe everyday life belong to all. Homelessness has to be tackled through multiprofessional collaboration. Through balanced community planning, districts can be prevented from becoming unequal. Sufficient public housing production and the long-term planning of land use prevent the price of housing from getting out of hand. Reasonably priced rented flats as well as right-of-occupancy and owner-occupied homes have to be available. Different forms of occupancy are needed, for in the fragmentary world of temporary work it is not possible for everyone to commit oneself to owning one's home. Risks related to becoming an owner-occupier must be decreased. The housing benefit policy needs to be redirected so that it supports different kinds of communal living, and it must be based on real housing costs. The different housing benefit systems must be integrated to one consistent whole. A negative credit report must not be an automatic obstacle for acquiring a home. The position of the overindebted must be eased.

Recovering from alcohol or drug abuse is supported, regardless of place of residence, through securing sufficient resources for social work and rehabilitation and through developing the methods of early intervention. Drug policy needs to emphasize prevention as well as efficient and varied treatment that respects the individual. The availability of detoxification, substitution and maintenance treatment has to be improved and the threshold to seek care must be lowered. The position of prostitutes must be able to be improved through social services, regulations and control. The economic and social causes of prostitution need to be tackled and the related human trafficking must be opposed.

The international patent rights of medicines have to be changed so that they will also be available to the poor. Universal literacy is a global goal. The international community must support the education of girls and minority groups in particular. Raising the education level of women and promoting reproductive health are good means to curb population growth.

Right to Work and Livelihood

The present social security system has not been able to solve the subsistence problems of those with a temporary or a part-time work. The system needs a thorough reform that will reduce structural unemployment and remove the disincentive traps. The social safety must not have holes, i.e. everyone has the right to a livelihood. A basic income paid to all citizens acts not only as a safety net but also as a trampoline helping people to take off to independent life control. The concept of basic income means a monthly payment that everyone receives regardless of one's income. At the same time, however, taxation begins at a low level of earnings, which means that the basic income is cut off from those receiving a normal salary. In the basic income system, always something remains of each additional euro earned. It also diminishes the bureaucratic rigidity related to social security, lessens subjecting beneficiaries to control and also removes the inactivating disincentive traps. The basic income system needs to be complemented with individual social work and a social security benefit system that takes into account exceptional circumstances. Furthermore, models need to be open-mindedly developed whereby the basic income may be supplemented with additional payments that encourage to e.g. third-sector work or studies. A basic income to be paid to all citizens is most important from the employment perspective and it will also reduce the grey economy. Personal economic safety encourages people to make the effort. Poverty does not encourage, it paralyses and marginalizes. When one feels good, one is also capable of caring for her or his environment.

Before introducing the basic income, experiments can be carried out on making the regulations on the labour market support more flexible where there are no jobs in reality and e.g. the labour market support cannot aid the local economy.

Better employment is also supported by the Green tax reform that can be implemented at both the national and the EU level. The Green tax reform shifts taxation from income tax to environmental and capital taxes. Although important steps have in the 1990s been taken in this direction, the structure of taxation is still not balanced. Getting a job in the open labour market must be facilitated. The problem is that the total cost of the work of the lowly paid becomes so high after adding the income tax, social security contributions and the value added tax to the net pay. The social security contributions paid by employers have to be graded so that they promote employment. A common European practice of taxation should be striven for where dividend income and earnings are treated equally. However, taxation needs to be kept progressive in order to maintain its effect of alleviating income disparities.

Employment can be improved both through the Green tax reform and the basic income system as well as work sharing. Work can be shared in several ways such as by shortening the weekly working hours or through sabbaticals. The aim is to make the workload of individuals reasonable and to distribute it to more people. It is particularly important to guarantee that the parents of small children have the right to a shorter working hours.

Local economic development policy needs to promote economic activity that employs people. The environment and employment are not contradictory values but go hand in hand. Environmental technology is one of the fastest growing sectors of the world economy and its development, in its different branches, must be supported in Finland as well. Environmentally benign production also often creates jobs. Those who become entrepreneurs must be ensured basic security. The administrative obligations of especially small firms need to be made simpler. The value added tax of labour-intensive services must be lowered. The position of small entrepreneurs has to be supported e.g. through raising the turnover limit exceeding which one becomes obliged to levy value added tax. Handicapped employees and others whose competitiveness in the labour market is impaired need to receive a special benefit aiding their employment. The competitive tendering policy of the state and the municipalities must not, in the long term, lead to public monopolies becoming replaced by private ones. The pros and cons of competitive bidding have to be examined case by case from the viewpoint of the common good. Privatization and competitive tendering are well-founded, if they benefit citizens also in the long run.

When reforming the regulations of working life, the position of employees and the general validity of collective agreements must be secured. In addition to job security and a salary corresponding to the demands of the work it is important that society encourages employers to invest in preventing burn-out. Part of a good working atmosphere is that the employer bears the responsibility of intervening immediately in any discrimination or sexual harassment occurring at the workplace.

Pluralism as a Starting Point

A good everyday life means, among other things, the right to live one's life as an equal citizen irrespective of one's personal characteristics. That is why democracy, pluralism, multiculturalism, and tolerance are central Green values. Promoting human rights and equality is part of the duties of not only the United Nations and other international organizations but also of every local community. The principles of democracy have to be extended to all levels of decision-making. Real changes in attitudes originate from the grass roots level.

Every Voice Must Be Heard

We live in a world where the right to express one's views is very unevenly distributed. There are a great number of “silent” people who, for different reasons, cannot make their voices heard. Non-governmental organizations have at the turn of the millennium become a tremendous force, and through them opportunities for participation have opened up for more and more people. The citizens' rights of association and freedom of expression as well as the prerequisites for NGOs to carry on their work must be guaranteed all over the world. The transparency of preparing and making decisions is of key importance in increasing the influence of citizens and NGOs. Dictatorships have to be pressurized into reforms that ensure free elections, democracy and the basic political rights. In the long run, dialogue is the most effective means to further peace and stability both nationally and internationally. There are situations where nonviolent, open civil disobedience is acceptable.

By developing different models of user, workplace and resident democracy, people are guaranteed an opportunity to influence concretely the decision-making that relates to them or their immediate environment. Democracy experiments must be supported so as to make the voices of children and young people heard. The Greens support different types of alternative communes and experiments based on an ecological way of life. The goal is to achieve a participatory democracy where the different actors of the civil society are real political forces.

The prerequisites of democracy include, in addition to a democratic form of government, a high rate of literacy and the freedom of expression. In Finland, this means e.g. the development of media literacy and an equal ability to participate in the information society regardless of one's age, sex or level of education. Supporting alternative media also strengthens the freedom of expression. The role of public communication is to complement the market-oriented media, and it needs to have a strong service function. Society must also offer many kinds of information and therefore e.g. maintain libraries that are free of charge. Publicly supported cultural services offer people experiences that are important for the quality of life, but they can also mediate to social debate such thoughts and ideas that are bypassed by the market-oriented media and culture. The right to one's own culture is a basic social right.

Representative Democracy Must Be Developed

Democracy needs to be strengthened by creating new opportunities of participation and political decision-making for citizens whereby they can directly influence issues relating to their local community as well as the world at large. Such opportunities can be offered by e.g. organs of self-government of residential areas and workplaces, local branches of international organizations, resident organizations, consumer organizations and by local branches of political parties. On the other hand, parliamentary government has to be reinforced. The representative democracy needs to be complemented with referenda and a citizen's right of initiative. It is wise to apply information technology open-mindedly in the search for new ways of democracy. A basic prerequisite for democracy is the right of citizens to receive information. The openness of administration, transparency and the publicity of official documents must be promoted in all fields of politics. Information technology has to be utilized in all possible ways in order to enhance the citizens' opportunities to participate and to receive information.

The political proportionality of the election system must be improved. The unreasonably high electoral thresholds in certain electoral districts have to be got rid of. The election system can be made more proportional and more interesting from the citizens' viewpoint through introducing a system where the voter can transfer her/his vote to a secondary candidate, if the primary one does not receive enough votes to be elected.

We vote also with our euros. Therefore, and from the viewpoint of fair trade, it is important to know what one buys. Information must be available on how the manufacture of a product has burdened the environment and what have been the related terms and conditions of employment.

Citizens have the right to know about the ties of their representatives. Eradicating corruption, rendering the power of money visible and promoting good administration are global tasks. The funding of parties and candidates has to be made public and the principles applied in distributing public funds for organizations open and impartial. High offices should be filled for a certain period and their holders rotated.

Decision-making should always be as close to the citizen as possible. The local and regional levels must be given more powers and responsibilities, and democratic decision-making systems between the municipal and the state level need to be developed. In reforming the regional administration, a goal should be that the provincial councils would be elected directly by the people e.g. simultaneously with municipal elections. Public documents must be available through the Internet. The language used in official documents and legislation must be understandable to everyone. Freedom of expression on the Internet must be secured.

Equality Important in All Decision-making

It is part of democracy to respect different ways of life. Equality does not mean uniformity. There are many equally valuable ways of being a woman, a man, a human being. Equality regarding sexual orientation as well as between men and women and the rights of the disabled are therefore important to the Greens. Although in many respects equality has progressed in Finland, there are still many hindrances to the realization of equality and human rights.

The goal of equality must permeate all decision-making. Gender impact assessment of political decisions must be developed as part of social impact assessment. The gender impacts of all significant reforms of legislation have to be assessed. Domestic violence is a serious problem in Finland. All means must be employed to rid society of it. Everyone must be guaranteed the same rights regardless of sexual orientation. This includes e.g. the right to adoption and marriage.

Reconciling family and work life is key to the equality between men and women. The costs of parenthood have to be shared equally between the employers of both parents. Fatherhood needs to be supported through e.g. an extension of the parental leave offered only to the father and also in solving conflicts over custody of children. The public sector must set an example in removing wage differentials, for pay must only be dependent on the job and qualifications of the person and not on her/his personal characteristics like gender or skin colour. Work assessment is one way of realizing pay equality. The Finnish labour market is strongly divided according to gender. This does not apply only to salaries but also fields of work and training. This division needs to be alleviated through equality education and careers advice that takes account of the equality viewpoint.

Reality Is Multicultural

A society in which well-being and equality prevail is based on multiculturalism. Like local cultures, those of immigrants are a richness to a civilized state. Multiculturalism and tolerance education must be in a central role in the school system: we need to learn to respect diversity. As immigrants integrate into the Finnish society and educational system, they must be offered instruction in their own language and culture. Cultural policy promotes both democracy and equality.

Minority languages must be supported through education and cultural policy. The rights of the Lapps to land, water and the traditional trades must be ensured through legislation. The position and education of the Roma people must be improved. The users of the sign language must be secured sufficient interpreter services.

Respecting minorities is one of the basic values of the European Union, but in practice it is too often just empty words. The lifestyles and forms of economic activity of different cultures have to be respected. Multiculturalism must be given as much room as it is possible in the framework of our legislation, conventions and mutual equality. Tools need to be developed to improve the position of minorities and their languages throughout the Union. Supporting local cultures implies taking the subsidiarity principle seriously. Regions must be able to keep the power to decide on their own decision-making system and e.g. on how to organize the basic services.

The Greens defend the freedom to choose one's philosophy of life and religion. In a multicultural society the state must treat different religious communities on an equal footing. The Greens value the humanitarian work carried out by the different churches in Finland and abroad. People must have the right to a dignified death in harmony with their convictions.

Think Globally, Act Locally

The central political challenge of the 2000s is to guide humanity towards joint responsibility and equality in the conditions of global market economy. Conflicts can be prevented both between and within countries by narrowing disparities in the standard of living. To prevent regional inequality requires measures both at the national level and globally. Regional policy and development cooperation as well as trade policy that respects human rights, the environment and democracy are necessary. It is more and more important to be able to set policy goals at the European and global levels. Act locally, think globally!

Causes of Migration Need To Be Tackled

Too high a price is paid, in human terms, for the internal migration in Finland. People must have a chance to earn a sufficient livelihood and lead a good life irrespective of where they live. This requires active and incentive rural policy. The national economic development policy has to create jobs also outside the present growth centres. Models of telecommuting and related supportive structures have to be developed actively. This necessitates the offering of efficient and equally priced telecommunications infrastructure to all people and companies irrespective of where they live or are located. The prerequisites of the traditional trades of the countryside must also be secured. Through transport policy, it is possible to support the vitality of different regions by e.g. developing fast and reasonably priced train connections and an exhaustive network of coach lines.

The growing inequality between municipalities and the broad municipal autonomy have lead to significant differences between localities in the quality and availability of services for citizens. The municipal autonomy must, as a rule, not be restricted, but the state may aim at directing the municipal service production through recommendations. Municipalities have to be guaranteed the economic preconditions for producing the services required by the law. In arranging administration, the inhabitants' right to services, and not municipal borders, must be the point of departure. The integration of municipalities into larger functional units needs to be strongly promoted.

The challenge in immigration policy is to create legal ways of entering the country outside the asylum system. In practice, this means facilitating work-based immigration. The European Union has been built into a fortress on whose borders there are people dying in the hands of traffickers. The extrajudicial migration and an immigration policy centered on raising walls have lead to a situation where millions of people live in the territory of the European Union without a citizenship. They have to be secured the right to participate in decision-making, as well as other basic rights, in their country of residence. People's basic and civil rights must primarily depend on their actual place of residence.

Everyone has the right to pursue, for themselves or their family, living conditions that are worth living in. Finland must receive a considerably higher number immigrants than it does at present. Immigration policies must not lead to socially biased migration whereby educated people move from poor to rich countries. Finland has to accept its responsibility for the world's refugees and offer asylum for more refugees than at the moment. Causes of the refugee problem have to be worked against through international collaboration without compromising the personal right of a persecuted person to seek asylum. A person seeks asylum because of insecurity and distress. Asylum seekers must not be treated like criminals.

European Union as a Responsible Actor in the World

The European Union can play a central role as an initiator in international politics. The way in which the Union has taken the lead in the climate talks shows that when it wants, it is ready for this role. A goal of the Greens is therefore to activate the European Union in the management of globalization e.g. so that it starts to promote the introduction of the Tobin tax, which reduces unsound currency speculation, and the removal of tax havens.

At the Union level, minimum standards have to be created for taxation, social security and environmental legislation to prevent unhealthy tax competition. The Green vision of Europe is one of a decentralized federation where the Union is a strong actor in those fields where supranational collaboration is necessary. Otherwise, the decision-making powers must be at the local, regional or national level.

The enlargement of the European Union contributes to stability and peace in Europe. The old and the new member states must be equal when building a more democratic and more open European Union.

The World Must Not Be for Sale

Globalization has made states more interdependent than before. In addition to economic and environmental policy, many problems of people's everyday life likewise require a global perspective. The uncontrolled economic globalization threatens not only the developing countries' chances of improving their citizens' living conditions but also the Nordic welfare state. The unhealthy international tax competition has created pressure to prune the public sector, i.e. those welfare services that are central to the Finnish model of equality. The economy is an instrument that has to work for the good of the citizens. Everything is not for sale.

In addition to the national economic policy, supranational economic organizations like the World Trade Organization and the World Bank have become important policy instruments. These organizations cannot be regarded as democratic. The environment, social justice, democracy and human rights are values that have to be able to direct and, if need be, command economic decision-making. That is one reason for developing new, supranational and democratic arrangements of collaboration and regulation, reforming the international legal system and for strengthening the role of the United Nations in international politics. It is important to involve all in drawing up the new world order. Extreme poverty and suffering are the common problem of all, and they must be overcome. This requires that the activities of the United Nations be thoroughly reformed and made more efficient.

In a real dialogue there is willingness to listen. Promoting labour and human rights, environmental protection and equality around the world must be made the goals of the regulation of trade. In the conditions of unfair competition, free trade only exacerbates the existing problems. The basic services and necessities of life, like water supply and sewerage, must not be brought within the sphere of free trade agreements. Instead, decisions concerning them must be able to be made locally. Ways to limit corporate power need to be found.

Poor countries must have the opportunity for developing their economies in protected conditions e.g. through raising the degree of refinement of their products domestically. The criteria applied in fair trade have to be made the rule instead of an exception in the future. The decision-making systems of international trade and economic organizations have to be democratized, and they must ensure that developing countries have an opportunity to participate in their decision-making and have their voices heard without pressure from other countries.

The funds used for development cooperation must be raised to one percent of the gross national product, and to at least 0.7 percent by the year 2010. Finland must promote the forgiveness of the debts of the poorest countries, and funds need to be directed to improving the educational system, enhancing the position of women as well as to strengthening the health care system and environmental protection in these countries. It is not meaningful to use development cooperation to merely correct mistakes made in other policy sectors. Instead, all Finnish and EU policies must be consistently in harmony with the interests of the poor of developing countries. For instance, the export credits and their guarantees granted by public, i.e. tax-financed, export promotion agencies must comply with binding, high environmental and human-rights standards in order that trade policy does not create problems that development cooperation needs to put right.

Towards Peace

Disarmament creates long-term prerequisites for peace. The ban on anti-personnel mines must be made effective globally. Arms exports must be regulated so tightly that arms do not wind up in the hands of those who violate human rights. The less money is used on arms in the world, the better. The European Union does not need an army of its own but should concentrate on developing an all-round toolkit of crisis management. The key issue is the prevention of conflicts with multiple means. In the post cold war world, the justification for Finland's military non-alliance has changed, but the principle itself has not. Finland must remain neutral and emphasize in its foreign policy crisis management, peacekeeping activities and mediation. Finland must remain militarily non-allied and must not join NATO. The roles of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and the United Nations need to be stressed and reinforced in building international security.

Armed military service and non-military service must be equal options in Finland. They must have equal average duration, and performing the service outside Finland, e.g. on a development cooperation mission, needs to be made possible. Unarmed and non-military service must be developed so that they better than at present meet the needs of rescue activities and civil defence both in normal conditions and in a state of emergency. All total objectors have to be treated equally irrespective of their religious, ethical or other background. Objection to military service must be allowed also under martial law, because the functionality of society in a state of emergency is not solely dependent on military force. The number of non-military service posts has to be increased through, inter alia, making the state responsible for the accommodation costs.

The freedom of action of criminal organizations practising arms or drug trafficking as well as child and women trafficking must be narrowed by e.g. lifting to some extent the veil of the banking secrecy and removing tax havens. Limiting the civil liberties is not the right way. The victims of women trafficking need to be guaranteed safe conditions of seeking help without the threat of being deported. The death penalty must be abolished worldwide. Use of child labour, torture, discrimination and violence against civilians have to be fought resolutely. According to statistics, Finland is one of the most violent countries in Europe; these problems are thus near us as well. The reasons must be analysed and ways of changing the situation sought.

The challenge for Green politics is to continually present concrete and bold initiatives, whether they are about new innovations concerning environmental policy, improving participatory democracy or socially just trade policy. Openness for new ideas as well as democracy within the Party are means of discerning weak signals that may develop into solutions for future problems. The world changes because it is changed.