Mariya Riekkinen

• Researcher, Docent at Åbo Akademi University

Effective collaboration between parents and schools (PSC) significantly impacts children’s academic and social development, contributing to their overall well-being. With a growing influx of refugees, family reunifications, asylum seekers, and working immigrants arriving in Norway, individuals are encountering new cultural and linguistic environmen...

This report overviews the central 2022 international developments related to cultural activities and facilities as well as the media, or more broadly implementing the freedom of expression, in the context of the rights of European minorities. The ECtHR cases of Basu v. Germany and Muhammad v. Spain are among the highlights, since they elaborate on...

Интернационализация образования представляет собой одну из насущных тенденций в области высшего и средне-специального образования в Республике Казахстан. Преподавание в межкультурной аудитории, несомненно, интересно педагогической новизной, но вместе с тем, оно открывает и сложные дидактические проблемы. Перед преподавателями встают новые вопросы о...

This chapter examines how the official documents of Finland and Norway reflect the idea of substantive equality for pupils with an immigrant background (PIBs) in compul-sory education. The theoretical framework is based on Fredman’s understanding of substantive equality, which comprises four dimensions: redistribution, recognition, transformation a...

We study how the principle of equal opportunity is reflected in national laws on implementing the right to free and compulsory basic education in Finland and Russia (those being the 1998 Basic Education Act in Finland and the 2012 Federal Law “On Education in the Russian Federation” in Russia). We pursue to find answers to the following question: w...

This contribution accounts for the key 2020 international developments related to social inclusion, economic and cultural rights, education and issues concerning media in the context of European minorities. Among the most significant advancements are the recognition of the associative element of the right to peaceful assembly in General Comment No....

The present article reviews international developments in 2021 which relate to cultural activities and facilities in the context of European minorities, not to mention mediarelated problems and– more broadly– freedom of expression. Among the highlights are the series of cases from the European Court of Human Rights; these specify the criteria for c...

Upon acquisition of independence in 1991, Kazakhstan was the only post- Soviet state where the titular nation did not have an overwhelming majority, the number of Kazakhs being fewer than the number of ethnic Russians. This explains to a certain extent why the Russian language, unlike other minority languages, has, to date, enjoyed a position of li...

This article reviews international developments which took place in 2019 with a focus on economic and social rights of members of European minorities, including the right to education. The developments are reviewed based on the practice of the UN, CoE, as well as EU organizations and their bodies whose activities relate to human rights issues. This...

This paper is focused on mitigating the challenge of inequality in educational systems of the four Nordic states: Denmark, Norway, Finland, and Sweden. Although many other countries invest significantly in education, the Nordic states accommodate lower level of child poverty and smaller scales of such negative social processes as criminality, child...

The labor market in the Nordic countries has adjusted to the general high educational standards of the population. Young people who, having just graduated from school, have neither the education necessary for employment, nor the work experience required by many employers become especially vulnerable. Accordingly, this article focuses on the socio-e...

The aim of this article is to study the nexus between the autonomy of minors in implementing the right to peaceful assembly and the best interests of the child in safety. We consider the issue, taking Russia as an example, where the past tradition of denying children’s legal personality still surfaces in modern legislation dealing with the rights o...

This article provides an overview of international developments in the area of the sociocultural and economic rights of European minorities, including access to and portrayal in the media, throughout 2017. The year brought several significant advancements in these areas. The adoption of the 2017 UNESCO Declaration of Ethical Principles in Relation...

From the perspective of the rights of minorities in Europe, this section overviews international developments concerning economic and socio-cultural entitlements, including those related to education and the media. It is thematically structured around two clusters related to the minority rights: (a) cultural activities and facilities, including the...

This study undertakes a contextual analysis of economic and legal risks associated with investment in the Kaliningrad region. The authors emphasise the importance of public-private partnership (PPP) in minimising such risks in order to enhance the region’s attractiveness and to solve development problems. PPP has never been studied as a means to mi...

This section gives an overview of international developments from the perspective of minority rights concerning cultural activities and cultural facilities, as well as the issues of the media and, more broadly, freedom of expression. In dealing with cultural activities and facilities, it departs from the provisions of Article 12 of the European Cha...

This is a comparative survey of two national legal frameworks in Finland and Kazakhstan providing the elderly in assisted care homes with an opportunity of socio-cultural inclusion. The study departs from the evolving international standards of ageing, which dictate legal obligations to provide the elderly in residential care with access to socio-c...

A series of protests across Russia, triggered by procedural violations during the 2011 parliamentary elections and results of the 2012 presidential elections, culminated on 6 May 2012 with a demonstration at Bolotnaia Square in Moscow. That demonstration led to violent clashes between protesters and the police. The dispersal of this demonstration a...

This article attempts to define the meaning and contents of the concept «protest» as it exists in constitutional law. The author abstains from acknowledging «the right to protest» in Russia’s constitutional law system. Instead it is studied how the opportunities to express the protest against decisions, actions (or lack thereof) by public authoriti...

This article deals with the much debated issue of children’s public participation from the perspective of legal practices in the Russian Federation. Having emerged at the level of national jurisdictions, the practice of engaging minors in decision-making processes on issues of public significance – or the practice of public participation of childre...

This article deals with the issue of equality in access to publicly funded health care based on the example of two jurisdictions, Finland and Kazakhstan. Legislative provisions of such access differ significantly in these two states. These differences culminate in the notion of citizenship. If Finland guarantees the right to publicly funded health...

The role of civil society in implementing Russia’s foreign agreements belongs to the most relevant themes of this article. Various avenues for such participation are studied on the basis of disparate provisions of Russian political documents, the decrees of the public authorities. According to the 2013 Concept of External Policy, Russia is increasi...

Although there is a growing tendency in academic literature to explore the rights of the elderly, the sociocultural dimension of well-being of the elderly under residential care has not as yet been extensively conceptualized. This is why from the perspective of international human rights law, this article deals with the issues of implementing socio...

When the representative organs are in a weak position to check and balance the executive authorities, it is significant that decision-making processes permit additional avenues for the substantive engagement of citizens. Although significant political and legal reforms in the last 15 years engendered in Russia, at least formally, a democratic multi...

In the context of international participatory standards, this article attempts to explore whether the contemporary legal system of the Russian Federation allows substantive public participation. The answer to this question is yes but only if effective remedies to protect participatory rights would be developed. International standards are gradual...

In 2009 the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child denoted the emergence of the widespread practice, conceptualized broadly as "participation". Participation of children in the conduct of public affairs is a concept which evolved from the practices of the state parties to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. This concept implies that chil...

This article focuses on the potential of the elderly as a distinct social group capable of changing the direction of state policies. As far as the elderly have special rights and, also, expectations that these rights will be protected, they are capable of generating their own political preferences. In effect, they can be identified as a special gro...

Altogether 40 types of indigenous peoples presently inhabit their ancestral lands in the Russian North, Siberia and the Far East. The indigenous peoples have traditionally occupied these territories, which provide the entire country with oil and gas. Among the outcomes of intensive nature use, we are witnessing a large-scale alienation of indigenou...

Public participation or active engagement in deliberation of political agenda sets up the citizens' ‘will’ to determine the outcomes of political decisions. Hereby various subgroups have a chance to claim their particular interests to avoid being bypassed in the overwhelming mass of even a benevolent majority. Children as a very particular subgroup...