Note verbale from the Permanent Representative of Finland to the Council of Europe, to Ms Chatzivassiliou-Tsovilis, Secretary General of the Parliamentary Assembly, dated 13 May 2024
The Ministry for Foreign Affairs present their compliments to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and with reference to the letter of 21 April 2023 from the Secretary General of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, Despina Chatzivassiliou-Tsovilis, concerning the election of a judge to the European Court of Human Rights in respect of Finland, has the honour to submit to the Assembly, in alphabetical order, the names and curricula vitae of the following candidates included by the Government of Finland in its list of candidates, together with information on the procedure by which the candidates were selected, in both official languages.
[…]
Finland reformed, in 2010, the procedures for nominating candidates for judges or members of international courts and tribunals and the Court of Justice of European Union, by amending the Act on Judicial Appointments (laki tuomareiden nimittamisesta, lag on utnamning av domare; 205/2000) by Act 741/2010, which entered into force on 1 November 2010. The purpose of the reform was to increase transparency in the decisionmaking and enhance the appointment of best possible candidates. The reform also brought consistency and uniformity to the nomination procedures, and strengthened the principle of good governance.
In 2016, the Act on Nominating Candidates for Judges or Members of international Courts and Tribunals and the Court of Justice of European Union (laki ehdokkaiden nimeamisesta kansainvalisten tuomioistuinten ja Euroopan unionin tuomioistuimen tuomarin ja jasenen tehtaviin, lag om nominering av kandidater for uppdrag som domare vid eller ledamot av internationella domstolar och Europeiska unionens domstol; 676/2016) was enacted and it entered into force on 1 January 2017. The Act lays down provisions on nominating candidates for judges or members of international courts and tribunals and the Court of Justice of European Union similarly as in the Act on Judicial Appointments.
According to section 6 of the aforementioned Act, the candidates for judges or members of international courts and tribunals, including the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), are nominated by the Government at its plenary session.
The Act establishes a permanent Expert Advisory Board (asiantuntijaneuvottelukunta, sakkunnigdelegation), which has the duty to prepare such nominations (section 3). According to section 3 of the Act, the Board is appointed by the Government at its plenary session for a six-year term. According to section 4 of the Act, the Board has nine members, consisting of representatives from the Prime Minister's Office, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Justice, the Supreme Court, the Supreme Administrative Court, the Office of the Prosecutor General, the Finnish Bar Association and a representative of the university units engaged in legal research and instruction. It also includes a representative from the competent ministry. In addition, the members of the Permanent Court of Arbitration are members of the Board. A deputy is appointed to each member. The current Expert Advisory Board was appointed by the Government on 30 March 2023. Its term began on 1 April 2023 and ends on 31 March 2029.
When establishing the list of candidates for the post of judge at the ECtHR, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs is the competent ministry. It initiates the procedure by notifying the Board of the vacancy and publishing a call for applications.
Section 2 of the Act on Nominating Candidates for Judges or Members of International Courts and Tribunals and the Court of Justice of European Union provides that positions of judges or members of international courts and tribunals and the Court of Justice of European Union for which Finland nominates one or more national candidates shall be announced before the candidates are nominated. The vacancy notice shall be published in an appropriate manner. Only those who have applied for the position may be nominated as candidates.
A public application procedure was organized for the national nomination of candidates for the post of a judge at the ECtHR in accordance with section 2 of the Act. A call for applications concerning the post was published (in Finnish and in Swedish) on the website of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs on 1 August 2023. In the call, the criteria for the post was stated and interested persons were asked to submit their written applications to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs by the end of office hours at 4.15 p.m. on 22 September 2023.
The call was also sent for information (in Finnish and in Swedish) by e-mail to the Supreme Court, the Supreme Administrative Court, all courts of appeal, all administrative courts, the Administrative Court of Åland, the Insurance Court, the Labour Court of Finland, the National Courts Administration, the Office of the Prosecutor General, the Office of the Chancellor of Justice, the Office of the Parliamentary Ombudsman, the Human Rights Centre, the Finnish Bar Association, the Finnish Association of Judges, the Association of Finnish Lawyers and ta universities providing tuition in law.
In addition, the call was published in the major national newspapers Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish) and Hufvudstadsbladet (in Swedish) on 13 August 2023.
It was also shared twice in the social media service X.
The Ministry for Foreign Affairs received altogether six (6) applications within the aforementioned time-limit and submitted all of them to the Expert Advisory Board.
The national nomination of candidates has been prepared by the Expert Advisory Board. The Board met on 2 October 2023 to discuss the persons who had applied for the position and to decide on the persons to be interviewed. The Board interviewed four applicants on 9 November 2023. All applicants were asked the same interview questions. The applicants were also asked questions in English and in French.
In a written procedure in December 2023 (4-8 December), the Board examined and adopted a statement containing a proposal of a list of three candidates to be nominated for the election of a judge at the ECtHR with respect to Finland.
The criteria set forth by the Council of Europe bodies concerning judges of the ECtHR were taken into account when establishing the list of candidates. The criteria were expressed in the call for applications. The Board applied these criteria when establishing its proposal for the list of three candidates. It gave specific consideration to the gender balance of the list of candidates spelt out in the Parliamentary Assembly Resolution 1366 (2004) as modified by Resolutions 1426 (2005), 1627 (2008), 1841 (2011), 2002 (2014) and 2278 (2019) and in the Committee of Ministers' Guidelines on the selection of candidates for the post of judge at the ECtHR (CM(2012)40-final as amended by CM/Del/Dec(2014)1213/1.5-app5). Proficiency in at least one of the official languages of the Council of Europe was required.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs has the ultimate discretion of presenting the list to the Government at its plenary session, which makes the final decision on the list of candidates to be presented to the Parliamentary Assembly. The Minister for Foreign Affairs presented the list of three candidates proposed by the Expert Advisory Board, and the Government appointed the said candidates, Doctor of Laws, LL.M., trained on the bench (Mr) Pekka AALTO; Doctor of Laws, LL.M. (Mr) Juha LAVAPURO; and Master of laws, Master of Political Science (Ms) Päivi PIETARINEN, at its plenary session on 21 December 2023.
Master of Laws, Master of Political Science (Ms) Päivi PIETARINEN has announced on 5 April 2024 that she is not available for the position of judge to be elected to the ECtHR with respect to Finland and has withdrawn her application submitted in September 2023. It was therefore necessary to update Finland's list of three candidates by proposing a new candidate to replace Ms PIETARINEN.
The Expert Advisory Board met to discuss the possible supplementing of the list of candidates, examined and adopted, in a written procedure (5-11 April 2024), a statement on supplementing the list of candidates for the election of a judge at the ECtHR with respect to Finland.
The Expert Advisory Board considered it possible to select the third candidate from among the persons who had already applied for the position without new interviews and a new application procedure. Moreover, the Board's statement did not change the Board's previous statement, examined and adopted in a written procedure in December 2023 (4-8 December), concerning candidates Mr Pekka AALTO and Mr Juha LAVAPURO.
The criteria set forth by the Council of Europe bodies concerning judges of the ECtHR was applied by the Expert Advisory Board when establishing its proposal for the new candidate. The Board took into account the Committee of Ministers' Guidelines on the selection of candidates for the post of judge at the ECtHR (CM(2012)40-final as amended by CM/Del/Dec(2014)1213/1.5-app5) and noted, inter alia, that candidates need to have knowledge of the national legal system(s) and of public international law and that practical legal experience is also desirable. The Board noted also, inter alia, that when assessing applicants, the ability to interpret and apply law, as acting in the Supreme Courts requires, is to be given weight and that particular attention is to be given to the length and depth of work experience relevant to the task, but also to academic and other legal merits.
The Board gave specific consideration to the gender balance of the list of candidates spelt out in the Parliamentary Assembly Resolution 1366 (2004) as modified by Resolutions 1426 (2005), 1627 (2008), 1841 (2011), 2002 (2014) and 2278 (2019) and in the Committee of Ministers' Guidelines on the selection of candidates for the post of judge at the ECtHR (CM(2012)40-final as amended by CM/Del/Dec(2014)1213/1.5-app5). Proficiency in at least one of the official languages of the Council of Europe was required.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs presented the new candidate proposed by the Expert Advisory Board, and the Government appointed the said candidate, Doctor of Laws, LL.M., Master of Science in Economies, Master of Social Sciences, Master 2 droit et études européennes (Ms) Satu HEIKKILA, at its plenary session on 25 April 2024.
Name, forename: AALTO, Pekka
Sex: male
Date and place of birth: on 12 October 1966 in Helsinki (Finland)
Nationality: Finnish
Application and implementation of fundamental and human rights, including the Charter of Fundamental Rights and the European Convention of Human Rights, before the Supreme Administrative Court, European Commission and Court of Justice of the European Union.
A book on EU Law in Finland, including a chapter on the application of the Charter of Fundamental Rights by the Finnish Courts (forthcoming, 2024).
Contribution to the book The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (Hart Publishing 2014).
Annual training of the EU Charter of fundamental rights for national judges (asessorit) in Tuomioistuinvirasto (together with Judge Antila of the Supreme Court).
Non applicable.
1994–1999 Contribution to the work of Eduskunta, expert representing Ministry of Justice before a number of Parliamentary Committees (25 cases).
36 publications, of which 2 monographies, 19 scientific contributions and articles. Nine publications in English, one in Swedish.
Books
Book chapters
|
Language |
Reading |
Writing |
Speaking |
||||||
|
Very good |
Good |
Fair |
Very good |
good |
fair |
Very good |
good |
fair |
|
|
a. First language: |
|||||||||
|
- Finnish |
X |
X |
X |
||||||
|
b. Official languages: |
|||||||||
|
– English |
X |
X |
X |
||||||
|
– French |
X |
X |
X |
||||||
|
c. Other languages: |
|||||||||
|
Swedish |
X |
X |
X |
||||||
|
German |
X |
X |
X |
||||||
|
Italian |
X |
X |
X |
||||||
I intend to follow intensive language classes as required.
-
I will take up permanent residence in Strasbourg if elected a judge on the Court.
Name, forename: HEIKKILÄ, Satu Marja
Sex: female
Date and place of birth: on 2 March 1970 in Salo (Finland)
Nationality: Finnish
. Faculty of Law: Master of Laws (LL.M., minimum 160 credit units (320 ECTS), grade 72/80, with special mention “excellently”), University of Helsinki, Finland, 1991‒1997
. Bilingual Master in European Community Law / Diplôme d’études approfondies en droit communautaire européen (LL.M., mention “good” / “bien”), College of Europe, Bruges, Belgium, 1998‒1999
. Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration: Master of Science in Economics (M.Sc. (Econ.), minimum 160 credit units (320 ECTS), courses taught in Swedish), Svenska handelshögskolan, Helsinki, Finland, 1995‒2004
. Faculty of Social Sciences: Master of Social Sciences (M.Soc.Sc., minimum 160 credit units (320 ECTS)), University of Helsinki, Finland, 2002‒2007
. Master 2 droit et études européennes – mention droits de l’homme (mention “Assez Bien”, 120 ECTS), University of Strasbourg, France, 2009‒2010
. Faculty of Law: Licentiate of Laws (LL.Lic., 60 credit units of postgraduate studies and the Licentiate thesis, grade Magna Cum Laude Approbatur), University of Helsinki, Finland, 1999‒2011
- Faculty of Law: Doctor of laws (LL.D., 40 credit units of postgraduate studies and the Doctoral thesis), University of Helsinki, Finland, 2011‒2016
. Docteur en droit, a double degree (cotutelle) with the Universities of Helsinki and Strasbourg, University of Strasbourg, France, 2010‒2016
. Associate Professor (dosentti) in human rights, Faculty of Law, University of Lapland, since 2024
. Trainee lawyer in the cabinet of Judge Tiili, Court of First Instance of the European Communities, Luxembourg, from 1 March 1998 to 31 July 1998
. Referendary (T11, scale T5‒T17), Supreme Administrative Court, Helsinki, Finland, from 1 June 2001 to 30 April 2004
. Temporary Market Court judge (T11), Market Court, Helsinki, Finland, from 1 May 2004 to 30 October 2004
. Case processing senior lawyer and non-judicial rapporteur (grade A2, A3 since 2010), European Court of Human Rights, Council of Europe, since 1 September 2007
. Administrative law judge, Helsinki Administrative Court, Helsinki, Finland, since 1 January 2022 (permanent post (T13) on 1 July 2023)
. Assistant lawyer, Law Firm Tero Siikonen Ky, Salo, Finland, from 1 June 1995 to 31 August 1995
. Assistant lawyer and lawyer, Law Firm Ympäristö- ja Liikejuristit Oy, Helsinki, Finland, from 15 September 1995 to 28 February 1998 and from 15 August 1998 to 15 September 1998
. Legal Secretary (lawyer) in the Legal Department of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Office of the State Agent for the Court of Justice of the European Communities, Helsinki, Finland, from 14 April 1999 to 28 February 2001
. Legal Secretary (lawyer) in the Legal Department of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Office of the State Agent for the European Court of Human Rights, Helsinki, Finland, from 1 March 2001 to 31 May 2001
. Legal officer / juriste (grade A2), Department for the Execution of Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, Council of Europe, from 1 November 2004 to 30 August 2007
Since 2001, I have been actively involved and have acquired an extensive professional experience of different domains of human rights.
After my graduation from the faculty of law where human rights were a part of the curriculum, I had my first contact with human rights in professional life as a lawyer in the Office of the State Agent for the European Court of Human Rights in 2001. In this post, I was responsible for preparing observations for the Government of Finland in cases against Finland pending before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. This gave me a valuable experience from the point of view of the government.
In 2004, I passed an A grade competition for the Council of Europe and started to work as a legal officer at the Department for the Execution of Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. During the three years I was working at the Department, I was responsible for following the execution of the Court’s judgments against all of the Nordic and Baltic countries, as well as against several other countries, in particular the Republic of Moldova, the Czech Republic, Andorra and San Marino. It was my duty to prepare notes for each of the cases, in English and in French, for the examination by the Committee of Ministers. My work also consisted of a regular attendance in the meetings of the Committee of Ministers, contacting the governmental counterparts of those countries I was responsible for and establishing and maintaining bilateral contacts both with the Permanent Representations and relevant national authorities. I was also responding to the queries of the applicants and NGOs and providing them with advice. Furthermore, I was also in charge of following and collecting relevant research information in the field of execution of judgments.
I started to work at the European Court of Human Rights in 2007. During my career at the Court, I have been dealing not only with cases brought against Finland but also very extensively with cases brought against Sweden, Armenia, Iceland and Norway. I have had the opportunity to work as a non-judicial rapporteur for Finland since 2010, for Sweden since 2017, and for Armenia between 2017 and 2018. Moreover, I have drafted almost all communicated cases against Finland since 2010 and many leading cases against Sweden since 2017, as well as a number of Grand Chamber cases, dealing, inter alia, with same-sex marriages (Hämäläinen v. Finland), freedom of expression (Pentikäinen v. Finland), data protection (Satakunnan Markkinapörssi Oy and Satamedia Oy v. Finland) and immigration issues (J.K. and Others v. Sweden). In April 2018 I started to work as a quality checker at the Rule 39 Unit. That duty has even more broadened my knowledge and experience on expulsion, extradition and immigration matters, and it has prepared me for quick decision-making in extremely important issues and under a constant time pressure. I have been one of the Court’s in-house trainers since 2017, training mainly colleagues and visitors’ groups, and I have also been providing knowledge sharing in particular in freedom of expression and execution matters.
As an important subject of human rights protection at the national level, execution of judgments has always remained very dear to me and therefore I started already early on to do research on it. This resulted in a completed master’s degree in human rights in 2010 and a licentiate degree in 2011 on human rights and execution. In 2016 I defended my doctoral thesis on the execution of the Court judgments in Finland and obtained my double doctor title both in the University of Helsinki and in the University of Strasbourg. My doctoral thesis was published in 2019.
In order to promote the dissemination of knowledge on human rights, we have published (together with Dr Päivi Hirvelä, the former judge of the Court) a manual on the Court’s case-law in Finnish in 2013 and the second edition of that publication appeared in 2017. In 2021 we published a case-law manual in English on the Court’s Article 6 case-law and in 2022 another case-law manual on Article 8 case-law. We are currently preparing the third edition of the manual in Finnish.
In addition, as I am interested in teaching law in general and international human rights law in particular, I regularly give courses on the system of European protection of human rights and on the jurisprudence of the Court at the University of Strasbourg since 2014 to groups of students who come from different European and non-European countries. Most recently, I have also been lecturing about human rights in Finland. I was one of the speakers in the Human Rights Day event in Finland, organised by Council of Europe in May 2023. I have lately participated also to the EAPIL Winter School in European Private International Law in University of Insubria, Italy, where I gave a lecture about the Court’s case-law to international students.
I have recently been granted the title of an Associate Professor (dosentti in Finnish) in human rights in the Faculty of Law of the University of Lapland in Finland.
See section III above.
None.
None.
International law, competition law.
From 1995 to 2010, from 2002 to 2005 and since 2024 respectively.
Articles
Books
|
Language |
Reading |
Writing |
Speaking |
||||||
|
Very good |
Good |
Fair |
Very good |
good |
fair |
Very good |
good |
fair |
|
|
a. First language: |
|||||||||
|
Finnish (mother tongue) |
X |
X |
X |
||||||
|
b. Official languages: |
|||||||||
|
English |
X |
X |
X |
||||||
|
French |
X |
X |
X |
||||||
|
c. Other languages: |
|||||||||
|
Swedish |
X |
X |
X |
||||||
|
Norwegian |
X |
X |
X |
||||||
|
German |
X |
X |
X |
||||||
|
Dutch |
X |
X |
X |
||||||
|
Spanish |
X |
X |
X |
||||||
|
Italian |
X |
X |
X |
||||||
|
Turkish |
X |
X |
X |
||||||
Finnish is my mother tongue. I also master perfectly Swedish, the second official language in Finland, and in which I have drafted judgments. English has been my daily language for over 20 years. I’m also at ease in French and I have been working in French on several occasions.
I confirm.
I confirm that I will take up permanent residence in Strasbourg if elected a judge on the Court.
Name, forename: LAVAPURO, Juha Mikael
Sex: male
Date and place of birth: on 29 February 1968 in Nokia (Finland)
Nationality: Finnish
Law degrees
The title of my doctoral thesis is “Uusi perustuslakikontrolli” (New Constitutional Review). The thesis examines constitutional review through the lens of pluralist constitutional dialogue, which acknowledges the overlapping authority of various national and international constitutional actors. Its main argument is represented, among others, in Lavapuro, Ojanen, and Scheinin, “Rights-Based Constitutionalism in Finland and the Development of Pluralist Constitutional Review”, published in the International Journal of Constitutional Law, Volume 9, Issue 2, in April 2011, on pages 505–531.
Academic positions and titles
Prizes and decorations
The Constitutional Law Committee of the Finnish Parliament issues statements on the constitutionality of legislative proposals and other matters brought for its consideration, as well as on their relation to international human rights treaties. In the Finnish constitutional system, this committee has the primary authority on constitutional interpretation. Throughout my career, I have provided the committee with over 200 expert opinions on the relationship between legislative proposals and fundamental and human rights. These opinions have covered practically all legal areas, including European Union Law. Before my appointment to the Supreme Administrative Court, I was one of six constitutional experts regularly consulted by the Constitutional Law Committee.
No public offices outside the judiciary.
Deputy Member, Turku University Collegium, 2010‒2013.
No posts held in a political party or movement.
No other relevant activities.
My publication record includes 70 scientific publications which focus on the application of constitutional rights and international human rights norms, the content of specific individual rights as interpreted by the Constitutional Law Committee, European Court of Human Rights, Court of Justice of the European Union and national courts, and the relationship between national and international law. Below is a representative list of ten publications reflecting my expertise in these areas of law in terms of form, substance, and timeline.
|
Language |
Reading |
Writing |
Speaking |
||||||
|
Very good |
Good |
Fair |
Very good |
good |
fair |
Very good |
good |
fair |
|
|
a. First language: |
|||||||||
|
- Finnish |
X |
X |
X |
||||||
|
b. Official languages: |
|||||||||
|
– English |
X |
X |
X |
||||||
|
– French |
X |
X |
X |
||||||
|
c. Other languages: |
|||||||||
|
Swedish |
X |
X |
X |
||||||
|
German |
X |
||||||||
I confirm that it is my intention to follow intensive French language classes both prior to, and at the beginning of, my term of duty if elected a judge on the Court. I am currently participating in intensive language training provided by the Institut Français de Finlande.
None.
I confirm that I will take up permanent residence in Strasbourg if elected a judge on the Court.