In 2010 Finland's National Brand Committee lead by former Nokia CEO Jorma Ollila presented its paper to a former Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb. The committee stated proudly that Finland was the forerunner of democracy since Finnish women became the first in the world to have unrestricted rights both to vote and to stand for parliament.
But something was left out from the report. Something which was part of the Finnish Social Policy in many decades of the 20th Century. In many countries this would be called slavery. And this is something which is quieted story of the Finnish history. A modern time slavery.
Finnish historician Jouko Halmekoski writes about the modern slave market which was the fact in Finland as late as in the 1950's. He interviewed 25 persons who had been auctioned away by the local government in order to save money in sustaining the children. The lowest bidders won the custody of the child for one years period. Ironically the auction was held in the 29th December, which is known as a day of the Innocent Children in Finland. Also misfortune adults, handicapped, mentally ill, sick ones, were auctioned for custody.
The freshest Historia -magazine (1/2013) tells a story of a quietened slave market of Finland. In paper it was abolished as late as in 1923 - 16 years after pioneering legistration to vote, but in practice the auctions continued widely thoughout the 1930's. The last auction known was made in the 1950's.
Stories Halmekoski describes in his book are depressing. Sexual abuse, physical punishment, malnutrition and all other means of physical and psychological disgracing were the fact in many places. Of course, there were also good byers who wanted honestly give a better live for abandoned, orphan or just poor children, but unfortunately the bad cases were in majority.
I checked out of the statistics from the Poverty Statistics of Finland from the year 1895. The statistics state that there were 22.054 auctioneers in Finland from which 10.695 were children. The older ones were often handicapped or mentally ill and also they were auctioned for the lowest bidders. These older ones were most often the ones which suffered the most, since they were bought by the poorest ones. Statistically it was 1% of the population which was sold in slavery auctions in 1895.
And what have changed since then. I argue the people in the 2090's will look us in a same way we look at the people in 1930's. We still sell the miss-fortuned children and our old ones in an auction for the lowest bidders. Of course there is not any more the abusive factor around, but from the humanistic point of view of the generations to come: how does this differ from the earlier situation?
In fact, a retired leader of a Child Custody Home, Seppo Kinnunen said in TV (Studio 55, MTV 3) that handling of a modern children taken to custody resembles very much of the situation of the auctioned children. Who makes the lowest bid, gets the custody of the children from the local government.
For you who know Finnish, here's a touching documentary from the 1960's by Lauri Markos (YLE) where the former child-slaves describe their grim stories from the early 20th century. Link.
Sources: Historia 1/2013, Jouko Halmekoski (2011) Orjamarkkinat, Köyhäinhoitotilasto 1895, Wikipedia, Yle Areena, Studio 55/MTV3.
But something was left out from the report. Something which was part of the Finnish Social Policy in many decades of the 20th Century. In many countries this would be called slavery. And this is something which is quieted story of the Finnish history. A modern time slavery.
Finnish historician Jouko Halmekoski writes about the modern slave market which was the fact in Finland as late as in the 1950's. He interviewed 25 persons who had been auctioned away by the local government in order to save money in sustaining the children. The lowest bidders won the custody of the child for one years period. Ironically the auction was held in the 29th December, which is known as a day of the Innocent Children in Finland. Also misfortune adults, handicapped, mentally ill, sick ones, were auctioned for custody.
The freshest Historia -magazine (1/2013) tells a story of a quietened slave market of Finland. In paper it was abolished as late as in 1923 - 16 years after pioneering legistration to vote, but in practice the auctions continued widely thoughout the 1930's. The last auction known was made in the 1950's.
Stories Halmekoski describes in his book are depressing. Sexual abuse, physical punishment, malnutrition and all other means of physical and psychological disgracing were the fact in many places. Of course, there were also good byers who wanted honestly give a better live for abandoned, orphan or just poor children, but unfortunately the bad cases were in majority.
I checked out of the statistics from the Poverty Statistics of Finland from the year 1895. The statistics state that there were 22.054 auctioneers in Finland from which 10.695 were children. The older ones were often handicapped or mentally ill and also they were auctioned for the lowest bidders. These older ones were most often the ones which suffered the most, since they were bought by the poorest ones. Statistically it was 1% of the population which was sold in slavery auctions in 1895.
And what have changed since then. I argue the people in the 2090's will look us in a same way we look at the people in 1930's. We still sell the miss-fortuned children and our old ones in an auction for the lowest bidders. Of course there is not any more the abusive factor around, but from the humanistic point of view of the generations to come: how does this differ from the earlier situation?
In fact, a retired leader of a Child Custody Home, Seppo Kinnunen said in TV (Studio 55, MTV 3) that handling of a modern children taken to custody resembles very much of the situation of the auctioned children. Who makes the lowest bid, gets the custody of the children from the local government.
For you who know Finnish, here's a touching documentary from the 1960's by Lauri Markos (YLE) where the former child-slaves describe their grim stories from the early 20th century. Link.
Sources: Historia 1/2013, Jouko Halmekoski (2011) Orjamarkkinat, Köyhäinhoitotilasto 1895, Wikipedia, Yle Areena, Studio 55/MTV3.
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I just read that USA had the law against child workforce 1992. Thus children did and do work there? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_young_people%27s_rights_in_the_United_States
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