. >> 30,000 people rallied in helsinki square in the biggest strike that finland has seen in decades. unions calling for the highly unusual protest in response to a pr proposed austerity package. they say that finland's economy must cut the cost of labor by 5% and reduce over time play, weekend compensation, sick leave and do away with two annual paid holidays. >> we're very angry about it, yes. >> it would put a big hole in my wallet. >> they're cheating and they're lying, and they will break down all the system that we have had here in this country. >> trains, planes, ships and public transportation were idle for the day, and many shops and factories shut down as this country of 5.5 million people came to a standstill. the government tried unsuccessfully to get the union to agree to measures that it says will boost competitiveness. the timber and technology industries are floundering and leaders call the situation exceptionally serious. finland's economy has been in recession for three years and unemployment is over 9%. economists expect thinks to get worse before they get period. w

let's go live to helsinki. what's all this about? >> well, twenty trade unions representing more than 2 million finish workers are calling a one day strike today. they will shut down the country for several hours. the finish government says the economy here is in serious condition. so they have proposed various cuts to overtime pay, be a bow list of two paid holidays per year and other measures that will bring down the cost of labor by about 5%. the unions have rejected this. they say that the center right government is not playing the usual role of reaching a consensus between government employers and employees. and so the country will be shut down. you can see behind me in helsinki's main square several thousand people gathering to show their defiance of these government proposals. the shutdown includes all rail, plane, all public transport shut down putting the entire country at a stand still all day. >> the government can't afford the demands that the union is placing upon it. so to what extent is this strike going to have any im

rob reynolds has more from the capital helsinki. >> thowthousands rallied. highly unusual protest in response to a proposed austerity package. the far right says finland needs to cut the cost of labor by 5% and wants to reduce overtime pay, weekend compensation sick leave and do away with two annual paid holidays. >> we are very angry about it, yes. >> translator: it would put a big hole in my wallet. >> they are cheating, lying, they want to break down all the system that we have had here in this country. >> extraordinary the way the government is doing. >> reporter: trains, planes, ships and public transportation were idled for the day and many factories shut down as this country of 5.5 million came to a standstill. the government has tried unsuccessfully to have unions agree to technology issues, exceptionally serious. finland's economy has been in recession for three years and unemployment is over 9%. economists expect things to get worse before they get better. what upsets many of these workers as much as the proposed cuts themselves is what they say is

and martyr is from the hungarian helsinki commission. she joins us via skype. thank you for talking to us. we heard from mr juncker, talking about the mandatory quotas imposed possibly with punitive measures if they are not adhered to. how do you think your government will respond. they are widely gown for being anti-immigrant. >> yes, hello. the hungarian government has so far been very reluctant. had a strong opposing position to the quota idea. now that the commission's plan has been unveiled, resulting in 54,000 asylum seekers being relocated from hungary, we are keen to here what the perform will say. this is absolutely putting some of the pressure off. it would make a sensible proposition, it will need to be accompanied bay variety of measures, and strong political messages that would emphasise that the hungarian government needs though private protection, it does need to live up to the obligation under international law, and that flow from e.u. membership. >> i know you are not a government representative, but i wonder if you can explain why the hungaria

england was shut down april workers walked out over austerity pleasures, rob reynolds roirlts from helsinki >> 30,000 people in the central square in the biggest nin finlas squares. want to reduce overtime pay, weekend compensation sick leave and do away with two annual paid holidays. >> yes, we are advise angry about it yes. a. >> i would pick up a big hole in my closet. >> breaking down system we have had in this country. troord the way the train is doing. >> many shops and factories shut down as this 61 of five and a half million people came to a standstill. the government has tried unsuccessfully, to agree to measures that it says would boost competitiveness. the 10:30 sears was exceptionfully, unemployment is over the nirch%. complirtsz what they say is the government's rejection of the traditional fm system of three ways ken suse consensus, regardg equality in take. >> we get solutions by negotiating and that's why we don't see the situation, now this foreign e-government thinks they know best. >> but business liter of the ticialt, they are too late. >> have. >> competition all over.

i first got engaged in this under the helsinki commission. we made this a priority.ful in establishing trafficking commitment within. there is now a representative and parliamentary assembly, chris smith -- our colleague from the representatives who is been a great legislative member. about 15 years ago, we passed the statute here which set up the tip report, which is the gold standard for judging all countries'commitment. i visited centers around the world and have seen firsthand those 11 victimized by traffickers. i have seen the consequences of it to families and i've seen the labor abuses that have taken place in trafficking. and it has to be our top priority. so, the position that we are looking at today, the person who will head our tip office as a critical mission to play. because the u.s. is leadership globally on this issue. and the world watches what we do. and how we respond. and our key person would be the person who will have this confirmed position that we're talking about today. and it is quickly important that that person the effective in dealing with

hungarian and helsinki committee.d to have you on the news, and first of all, tell us about the refugees that we saw off the train line. moved around on the stockholm trains, and what's going to happen now? what's your understanding of that? >> it's impossible to know [ unintelligible ] [ loud background noise ] [ unintelligible ]. >> it's so noisy behind you, and perhaps we could move the microphone someplace else so we could hear you a bit more clearly if that's possible, but let me ask you this, hungary is no stranger to refugee crises. let's go back to 1956. and there was not a single hungarian, in a refugee status who is trying to turn back. so what has changed in your country's national status? >> yes, unfortunately, hungary seems to have lost his historical memory. hungary was the first country to refuse the refugee status after the signing of the geneva convention. [ loud background noise ] very little solidarity with those refugees to flee syria, and free the similar conflicts. [ loud background noise ] the m

again, getting back to osc, helsinki principles. giving a little more focus on the economics. that's what russia is so interested in. unfortunately, the united states is less interested in that as a topic. but can we bring russia more fully on the economic side as we did 40 years ago through the helsinki final act encouraging that. >> and finally, that human dimension, never forgetting that four million people live in the arctic. this is a human rights issue. we need to build greater resilience into all of those challenges that i showed you. so perhaps we need a little more innovation. as we think about the arctic, the arctic council has been a wonderful tool. i think it's insufficient for the challenges that i have suggested. and before i welcome marlene and steve up, let me stop and thank an incredibly important member of our team, carolyn rolloff, who is my co-author. carolyn has worked tirelessly on this project, and we could not have done this without her, so my thanks and special gratitude for my wingman on this project. so with that, and i have gone on for much too long

hungarian helsinki committee, a human rights group working with the refugees. what do you make of the way in which hungary treated refugees on the boarder with serbia on wednesday. how does that sit with e.u. law? >> as a human rights organization, we are appalled at the reaction of the hungarian government which stated through its spokesperson that the police action that you reported about, that viewers could see, was completely lawful, proportional and done in a professional way. we would expect an inquiry looking into the situation that was - that went on yesterday. we would also expect the police to release the video footage that they, themselves, also recorded. i think that within a matter of 12 hours, one cannot just come to a well-founded conclusion that everything was all right. in fact, what we saw and what our assessment has been, that the conflict, the riot yesterday was triggered by a variety of factors. and there are conflicting reports about what happened. clearly when we speak about police actions, the violence that the police used was quite indi

i first got engaged in this under the helsinki commission where we made this a u.s. priority in the osce. we were successful in establishing a trafficking kbhee within the ose. chris smith has been one of the great leaders on the issue of u.s. legislation on trafficking. it was about 15 years ago that we passed the trafficking of persons statute here. i have visited victim assistance centers around the world and seen firsthand those who have been victimized by traffickers. i've seen the consequences to families. i've seen the labor abuses that have taken place through trafficking, and it has to be our top priority. so the position that we are looking at today, the person who will head our tip office, has a critical mission to play because the u.s. is the leadership globally on this issue, and the world watches what we do and how we respond. and our key person would be the person who will have this confirmed position that we are talking about today, and it's critically important that that person be effective in dealing with the undersecretary for civilian security, de

no, this is the refugee program called [ inaudible ] for the hungarian helsinki committee. and he was explaining how the authorities have made it really difficult for the refugees to gain access to e.u. territories. >> what is happening there is that hungary is denying access to the territory of the european union for those asylum seekers, mainly sirians, but others, iraqis and all different nationalities to have access to the territory of the european union, and have access to the asylum procedure. they only allowed to enter a couple of dozen persons to a so-called transit zone, which is a set of containers on the border fence every day. so you can imagine there are hundreds and hundreds of asylum seekers who are really desperate, many of whom have a valid protection claim, and they have to queue there and wait for several days to be allowed to enter the transit zone, and even most of them who are actually allowed to enter are rejected in an absolutely unfair procedure, basically in one hour. you can imagine what kind of quality an authority can conduct in one hour, consid

. >> reporter: 30,000 people rallied in helsinki's central square ft biggest strike they had seen in decades. unions called for the highly unusual protest in response to a proposed austerity paing canalling. the center right government says finland's economic needs to cut the cost of labor by 5% and wants to reduce overtime pay, weekend compensation, sick leave and do away with two annual paid holidays. >> translator: we are very angry about it, yes. >> translator: it will make a big hole in our wallet. >> they are cheating and they want to break down the system we have here in this country. it's extraordinary the way the government is doing it. >> reporter: trains, planes, ships and public transportation were idle for the day, and many shops and factories shut down as this country of 5.5 million people came to a standstill. the government has tried unsuccessfully to get unions to agree to measures it says would boost competitiveness. finland's timber and technology industries are floundering and leaders call the economic situation exceptionally serious. finland's economy has been in

. >> rob reynolds in helsinki.rested a drug gang member suspected of ordering killings of 43 students and lopez was captured on wednesday and they were missing last september after a protest in the state and we have more from mexico city. >> reporter: the man arrested could be a key part in the puzzle of what happened to 43 students who were abducked last september in mexico and kidnapped by the police and apparently turned over to a gang and lopez was part of that gang and his former accomplices and former head of that gang behind bars testified that he is the person who ordered the killing and then the burning of those students in a municipal rubbish dump and that is the official version of what happened but since then over a week ago a group of independent experts released an over 500 page report and one of their findings they said that it was scientifically impossible that an open fire in that rubbish dump could have burned those 43 students, almost to the fact that they were unidentifiable. so now it's going t

decision to invite not just shevardnadze but also shevardnadze's wife to their first encounter in helsinkiin summer 1985. is touched shevardnadze. shevardnadze do that he was going to be meeting a real living human being, and so was his wife. so the social aspect to this. and the second example i'll give which i think occurs in mr. schultz memoirs, in fact i know it does but i've read in the soviet accounts, when they went down to georgia in 1987 and shevardnadze put on a huge banquet for the american delegation headed by mr. shultz and at some point in the of mr. shultz arranged for a singing of georgia on my mind. [laughter] this might seem a small thing, but it was a big thing for shevardnadze. shevardnadze was a great georgian patriot. he came from a small nation inside the ussr that had been kicked around by the russians. the word of georgia coming georgian, is not georgia but shevardnadze knew just about enough english to know the word in english was a georgia, and he was very, very touched by this. and so was his entourage. there was a mutual learning expert speakers can interrupt y

were in the foreign ministry with the secretary's decision to invite, not just him but his wife in helsinki summer so there was a social aspect. the second example but with 1987 to put on a huge banquet for the american delegation headed by mr. shultz and at some point in the meal this may seem a small thing but it was a big thing at the time. . .