Safe City Tour: Combating Hate in Vantaa
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City stories
Udgivet: 25 Nov - 2020
The Safe City Tour travels to Vantaa
City Council women countering hate speech, Peace walks for religious diversity, music to promote inclusion and community cohesion, student led anti-bullying initiatives, cross-sectorial alliances and police coordinators in Vantaa.
The third week of the ‘Safe City Tour’ travelled to the Finnish city of Vantaa. During the safe city tour week, Vantaa welcomed the local and global public on a virtual visit, where the city provided insights into ongoing initiatives to promote dialogue, religious diversity, inclusion and to counter hate speech and ensure that all voices are present in the public debate.
Within the Nordic Safe Cities Alliance, Vantaa’s ‘Safe City Action‘ focuses on investigating how to build up an improved situational picture on safety and security in the city. The safe everyday life of residents is one of the strategic goals of the City of Vantaa. Local safety planning in Vantaa is a long-term, systematic and coordinated process for resolving local or regional security issues in collaboration with different actors. The security level in Vantaa is improved through initiatives supporting the community spirit of local boroughs and through strong alliances working to prevent safety risks in co-operation with the city and civil society.
On the first stop of the Safe City Tour, Vantaa invited us in to the City Council where Mayor Ritva Viljanen and the Women’s network clearly stated that in a democracy all must be able to engage in public debate and participate in building society, without fear or being crushed by hate – Women must not be silenced.
The Vantaa City Council’s women’s network was founded to support equality in employment and services. Among other issues it aims to combat segregation and to stop verbal harassment of women in Vantaa, where hate speech is often targeted at women working in politics.
As part of Vantaa’s focus on countering hate and being a tolerant, diverse, inclusive and safe place for all, the city arranges Peace Walks that bring people of different faiths, backgrounds and viewpoints peacefully together. The Peace Walk in Vantaa is open to people of all or no faiths and is a sign of friendship and a desire to encourage peace, reconciliation and safety. The Peace Walk is built around dialogue and to show that any challenges of coexistence between people of different religions and world views are best addressed through constructive discussion.
Not even the harsh weather can keep people from walking for peace. “The participants in the Peace walk felt it was important to show that we can do things together and we want to live in harmony in our area. Different religions and views do not prevent us from working together for the benefit of our residential area“ – Laura Latikka, vicar of Rekola Parish, Vantaa.
Vantaa works on multiple fronts to promote peace, inclusion, community cohesion and harmony locally. One such initiative is Vantaa’s Tempo Orchestra, which welcomes all children – no entrance exams or tuition fees, it’s all about joy!
Tempos are low-threshold orchestras that bring together and promote partnerships between children of diverse cultural, religious, and socio-economic backgrounds. Tempos are supported by Vantaa’s Regional Program of Positive Action with the aim to build communities through the power of music.
Children’s wellbeing and school safety is a hot topic in Vantaa. As part of the city’s Special Treatment Program, Vantaa has invested in ‘special youth workers’ in schools and learning institutions. Special youth workers are safe and familiar adults who provide support both in and outside the school.
After the school day, special youth workers continue their work at malls, parks, youth centres, and wherever young people spend their time. “On site youth work compliments the efforts in the school. This way we get the full picture and not just small sliver of youths’ lives” – Salovaara and Järvinen, Special Youth Workers, Vantaa.
The special youth workers operate in close cooperation with student led anti-bullying initiatives. At Martinlaakso elementary school, 8th – and 9th -graders can join a preventive anti-bullying operation, known as the M Crew. M Crew members take an active lookout in pairs and make sure bullying doesn’t happen during recess. Younger students can come to the M Crew with any experiences or concerns related to bullying and do not need to face these problems alone. The M Crew act as good examples to look up to for younger students and as positive influencers inside the school community.
In addition to the focus on countering hate and improving child well-being, Vantaa prioritises strong alliances in their prevention strategy and has intensified co-operation with the police by hiring a Police Coordinator.
The new joint Police Coordinator, Markus Hammarström, acts as a contact person between the police department and the city in matters of public order and security. He promotes and monitors the City of Vantaa’s security plan and is the contact person for security issues such as prevention, neighbourhood policing and contingency planning. The Police Coordinator is also the security expert in issues related to radicalisation, threats, and violence.
“When the Police Coordinator is a joint employee of both the police and the city, it enables comprehensive management of security tasks, better targeting of preventive work and a good flow of information to both parties” – Ritva Viljanen, Mayor of Vantaa.