100 POSITIONS OF THE ASSOCIATION

The 2026 board of the Turku Green Youth and Students has compiled the association’s 100 most important policy positions, categorized by theme. While the list is not perfect, it provides a comprehensive and essential overview of our association’s stances! 💌

THE CLIMATE CRISIS, BIODIVERSITY LOSS AND ANIMALS

  • Finland must become carbon neutral by 2035.
  • Restore carbon sinks to a sustainable level.
  • Finland must become carbon neutral by 2035.
  • Restore carbon sinks to a sustainable level.
  • End the burning of fossil fuels, peat, and stemwood for energy.
  • Nature has intrinsic value. Respect the natural life cycle.
  • Protect old-growth forests and reform the Forest Act.
  • Increase funding for nature conservation and restoration. Safeguard biodiversity.
  • Raise the mining tax. Prohibit the establishment of mines in or near nature conservation areas and ecologically valuable sites.
  • Ban clear-cutting and logging during the bird nesting season. Implement regional logging quotas. Prohibit the creation of new drainage ditches.
  • Strengthen efforts to protect and restore the Baltic Sea.
  • Ban greenwashing.
  • Secure fundamental rights for animals and enshrine them in law.
  • Invest in the prevention and monitoring of animal welfare issues.
  • Prohibit all cruel and unethical production practices, and aim to phase out industrial animal farming in the long term.
  • Gradually transition from industrial animal farming to plant-based production, and steer the market towards ecological plant-based production.
  • Support plant-based diets and veganism. Reduce taxes on plant-based food. Ban fur farming.
  • Ban quota-based management hunting of large carnivores.
  • Prevent the spread of harmful invasive species.
  • Ban net fishing to protect Saimaa ringed seals.
  • End the breeding of traits that are detrimental to animals’ health.
  • Protect endangered species.

EQUALITY, HUMAN RIGHTS AND DEMOCRACY

  • Ensure the realization of democracy and the principles of the rule of law. Defend the international rules-based order. Strengthen the position and values ​​of the European Union.
  • Lower the age limit for voting and eligibility to stand for election to 16 for all elections and citizens’ initiatives.
  • There is no room for racism or discrimination in Finland. Actively address racism, combat hate speech, and prevent polarization.
  • Safeguard the rights of sexual and gender minorities. Develop an action plan for LGBTQ+ policy.
  • Improve access to gender-affirming healthcare. Ensure bodily integrity for intersex individuals.
  • Introduce a legal third gender category.
  • Ban conversion therapy.
  • Fully implement the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Guarantee the right to a life of one’s own choosing for persons with disabilities and those requiring special support.
  • Promote accessibility in society. Increase the participation of and opportunities for influence for persons with disabilities.
  • Develop military and civilian service to be more equitable.
  • Prevent intimate partner violence and establish “femicide” as a specific criminal offense in law.
  • Promote gender equality. Close the gender pay gap.
  • Update legislation to address technology-facilitated violence.
  • Combat human trafficking and labor-related exploitation, and impose stricter penalties.
  • Safeguard the Sámi languages ​​and culture, as well as the operational capacity of the Sámi Parliament, through adequate funding. Also promote the status of other minority languages ​​and cultures.
  • Recognize the State of Palestine and demand an end to the genocide of Palestinians being carried out by Israel. Cancel arms deals with Israel.
  • Support Ukraine in its defense and reconstruction. Ensure a just peace.

UPBRINGING, CULTURE, EDUCATION AND SCIENCE

  • There should be free education in Finland. Civilization is an independent value.
  • There will be no cuts to education sector, instead basic funding for all levels of education will be strengthened.
  • Secure the freedom of researched science and the funding of research.
  • First-time quotas for higher education institutions will be removed.
  • Reduce the loan-based nature of student financial aid. Increase the tuition fee. Return the students to the scope of general housing support.
  • In particular, the appreciation and status of Finnish culture should be strengthened.
  • Invest in sexual and media education. Support the teaching of emotional skills. Climate and environmental education should be increased.
  • Reduce the focus of education on performance, and strengthen its general education nature. Invest in reading and writing skills.
  • The structures of continuous learning should be renewed and a renewed retraining subsidy introduced.
  • The school must be a safe place, and the group sizes must be suitable. Bullying and school violence must be addressed immediately.
  • Implement a common viewing subject for everyone.
  • Unpaid internships should be removed.
  • Welfare services and free hobby opportunities should be offered through the school to support studies.
  • We must raise the quality, appreciation and funding of vocational education.

MENTAL HEALTH AND SUBSTANCE ABUSE POLITICS

  • Acknowledge the mental health crisis among children and young people. Focus more strongly on prevention. Make it easier to access care.
  • Improve low-threshold services. Increase funding for mental health services to an adequate level. Ensure continuity in care pathways.
  • Improve primary-level mental health services, especially for children, young people, and students.
  • Include a visit with a school social worker or educational psychologist as part of national school health check-ups.
  • Reduce the stigma associated with mental health challenges. Prevent social exclusion and loneliness.
  • Expand the “therapy guarantee” to cover everyone. Ensure access to long-term psychotherapy as well.
  • Address the distress experienced by men and boys.
  • Improve the identification of neurodivergence.
  • Develop a more humane and evidence-based drug policy.
  • Decriminalize the use of all illicit substances.
  • Legalize supervised drug consumption rooms.
  • Ensure that substance use does not prevent individuals from receiving help for mental health issues.

SOCIAL AND HEALTH POLITICS

  • The right to social security and an adequate standard of living are human rights.
  • Strengthen the foundations of the Finnish welfare state.
  • Introduce basic income.
  • Make contraception free of charge for people under 29. Secure an equal right to abortion for everyone.
  • Facilitate better possibilities of adoption. Improve the availability of fertility treatments. The diversity and different needs of families must be taken into account.
  • The position of workers in the social and health care sector should be strengthened. Secure the rights of all employees.
  • increase funding for health care. Doctor and hospital fees should be removed.
  • The vital role of social security services should be recognized, and their funding ensured.
  • Invest in child protection resources, and ensure a good and safe childhood for everyone.
  • Halve poverty in families with children by 2032.
  • Return the protective elements to unemployment insurance benefits. The appreciation of work and social participation should be strengthened.
  • Regulate the right to hospice care leave and compensation for working people.

ECONOMY POLITICS

  • Economic growth is not an end in itself. The economy must be aligned with the limits of the Earth’s carrying capacity.
  • The well-being of people, animals, nature, and the climate must be at the heart of the economy.
  • Promote a transition toward a “sufficiency economy” (an economy based on moderation). Use taxation to steer consumption.
  • Support sustainable energy self-sufficiency.
  • Create incentives to guide business activities toward greater sustainability.
  • Regulate business activities that are harmful to the environment and to people.
  • Eliminate subsidies that are harmful to the environment. Introduce a pollution tax.
  • Ban fast fashion and the economy of cheap, disposable goods.
  • Introduce a wealth tax.
  • Improve the employment situation for young people.
  • Provide better support for small businesses and solo entrepreneurs.
  • Mitigate the harmful effects of artificial intelligence.

TURKU OF THE FUTURE

  • Turku must be an accessible city.
  • Turku is a home for people, nature, and animals alike.
  • Eliminate racism and discrimination from the city.
  • Turku must be a safe place for everyone in every respect.
  • Building with a feminist approach, taking into account nature and environmental diversity. Adding more vegetation and greenery to the city center.
  • Improve opportunities for minorities to participate in activities.
  • Promote affordable housing.
  • Ensure that children and young people can experience culture free of charge.
  • Protect and restore the Archipelago Sea.
  • Promote sustainable transport by improving public transit options. Ban private car use in the city center and reduce overall car traffic.
  • Eliminate structural and geographical segregation.
  • Invest in the integration of immigrants.

+ Position 101: Let’s turn Aurajoki to Sofiavirta.
+ Position 102: Formalize Piispanmukki as the national pastry of Finland.