In my last update I wrote how Finland's sports minister Antti Kurvinen was planning to attend the Beijing Winter Olympics. Now Kurvinen has announced the cancellation of his trip. However, he also clarified that the decision was made because of a potential Covid risk and not because of human rights. 

The announcement comes just a day after a false announcement of cancellation reported by the tabloid Iltalehti. The article was based on a tweet by a parody account claiming to be Kurvinen and was quickly corrected by the real Kurvinen. 

While the fact that Kurvinen has cancelled his trip is good news, combined with the fake announcement just a day prior makes the situation a bit depressing: the fake Kurvinen specifically named China's various human rights violations as the reason for cancelling his trip, with the author mentioning Uyghurs, Tibetans and Hongkongers in his post. Meanwhile the real Kurvinen specifically stated that human rights, or any other political issue for that matter, did not influence his decision. Honestly, I'd be happy if the two just switched places.

Anyway, despite the good news I've decided to keep the petition open for the time being. The Finnish government can still take a stance on this issue.