Today was a dramatic evening when protestors tried to stop a deportation of Afghans from Helsinki-Vantaa Airport. Apart from the protestors, ST1 allegedly refused to tank the plane that was going to deport the asylum seekers back to Afghanistan.
Plans to deport Afghans from Finland was reported by Al-Jazeera.
There was hope that the deportation would stop and be delayed but such hopes were dashed when the plane, a Boeing 737-800 (OK-TVO) allegedly of the Czech Travel Service, took off from the Helsinki-Vantaa Airport cargo terminal.
The protestors who did everything possible to stop the deportation should be commended. It is a good example of activism and standing up against a government that doesn’t care an iota for the safety of the people it deports.
Ilona Taimela tweets that apparently a new demonstration against deportations will be held tomorrow at noon at the Helsinki Railway Station Square. Tell the organizers that you will be going to the demonstration here.
This weekend saw some pretty ghastly pictures when a group of police officers visited Hyvinkää to detain Afghan asylum seekers. The story is significant for the following reason: It is the first time this year that Finland starts to deport Afghan nationals.
Moreover, as the picture below shows, the police officer uses a dog to detain the asylum seekers.
The picture of the police officer and the dog is the ugly face of Finland’s asylum policy at present. It is a policy that has total disrespect for human rights never mind the safety of those that it puts in harm’s way.
The police used a dog to detain asylum seekers over the weekend in Hyvinkää. Watch the full video here.
Naturally, the persons and institution behind this tough asylum policy are Interior Minister Paula Risikko, Päivi Nerg and the government of Prime Minister Juha Sipilä.
Näin niiden poliisien kasvot, ei se ollut helppo tehtävä heillekään. Miksi Suomen hallitus tekee virkamiehistään pahantekijöitä? Millainen syyllisyys painaa koko loppuelämän niitä ihmisiä, jotka poliitikkojen painostuksesta joutuvat tekemään omantuntonsa vastaisia tekoja? Vastaanottokeskuksissa, maahanmuuttovirastossa, poliisissa. Eikä kysymys ole ihan pikkujutuista, vaan ihmisten lähettämisestä heidän tahtonsa vastaisesti takaisin maahan, jossa kaikki tietävät asioiden olevan kaameassa tilassa. Ihmisiä myös ihan kirjaimellisesti lähetetään kuolemaan tai kidutettavaksi. Sylilapset kannetaan mukaan todistamaan isän ja äidin kohtaloa.
Pakolaisleirillä Kabulissa helmikuussa 2017
Millaisen kansan Suomen hallitus on meistä tekemässä? Onko meillä inhimillisyys enää ollenkaan sallittua?
Usealta eri paikkakunnalta on nyt tullut tietoa siitä, että afganistalaisia perheitä ja yksittäisiä henkilöitä on tultu hakemaan. He tulevat sunnuntaina, jolloin asianajajaa ei saada kiinni. He tulevat hyvin aikaisin aamulla tai iltamyöhällä, poliisikoiran kanssa aivan kuin pidättämään vaarallista rikollisjoukkiota. He pyrkivät luomaan pelkoa ja hämmennystä ja estämään noudettavia toimimasta rationaalisesti. Puhelimet otetaan pois, passit on otettu jo aiemmin. Heille näytetään dokumentteja, jotka ovat vain suomen kielellä. Tulkkeja ei ole. Ja sitten heitä viedään. Kukaan ei tiedä, minne. Kenellekään ei myöskään kerrota, milloin heidät viedään väkisin koneeseen ja laitetaan lennolle Kabuliin. Huhut, pelko ja kauhu moninkertaistuvat. Monet näistä ihmisistä ovat olleet Suomessa jo pitkästi yli vuoden. Heillä on suomalaisia ystäviä ja rakkaita. Yhtäkkiä heidät repäistään irti ja viedään kuin koirat, koirien saattamana.
Pakolaisellakin on Suomessa ihmisoikeudet. Häntä koskevat myös kansainväliset lait ja Suomen sitoumukset. Hänellä on oikeus asua Suomessa niin kauan kunnes hänen oleskelulupa-asiansa on loppuun saakka käsitelty. Hänellä on oikeus siihen, että häntä koskevat asiat käsitellään siten, että hän ymmärtää, mitä sanotaan ja mitä tapahtuu. Kolmannenkin kiellon jälkeen hänellä on mahdollisuus hakea uutta turvapaikkaa tai oleskelulupaa toissijaisen suojelun perusteella.
Todella monessa oleskelulupakäsittelyssä on tehty virheitä tai hakijan suojelun tarvetta ei ole otettu tosissaan – luultavasti siksi, että pakolaisten tavallista suuremman määrän vuoksi hallituksella on tarve käännyttää suurempi osuus pakolaisista. Inhimillinen ihminen ymmärtää, että pakolaisten suurempi määrä johtuu siitä, että hätä ja turvan tarve on suurempi. Prosenttien palauttaminen johtaa kauhutekoihin, kun kysymys on pakoon lähteneiden ihmisten palauttamisesta murhaajiensa armoille.
Pakistanista palautettuja pakolaisia Kabulissa helmikuussa 2017
Teidän pitäisi myös ymmärtää, Paula Risikko ja Juha Sipilä, että me tavalliset ihmiset emme halua katsella verta käsissänne. Emmekä halua, että tahritte sillä meidät, vilpittömät ihmiset, jotka haluamme auttaa hädässä olevaa. Nyt se olisi sitä paitsi helppoa, kun he ovat tehneet pitkän ja raskaan taipaleensa tänne saakka. Ei tarvitse muuta kuin noudattaa Suomen perustuslakia.
The Finnish Immigration Service with the police are starting deport this year Afghan nationals. According to unconfirmed sources, the victims include a family and “a number” of Afghans. The video below was allegedly in Hyvinkää.
Migrant Tales has reported a number of deportation cases since January. All of the persons on the list that were detained by the police are Iraqis.
How well must I speak Finnish in order to land a job? That question, even if it hounds many of us, is a very topical question that leads us to other ones that expose the culprit of discrimination. Like most matters in Finland that deal with discrimination and racism, the burden of proof falls on the victim.
Few will disagree that we need a more radical proactive about-turn by the authorities requiring them to monitor and challenge discrimination and racism in all public spaces.
It’s clear that if we wait for politicians in this country, never mind the government of Prime Minister Juha Sipilä to improve matters on this front, we’ll be waiting for centuries long after we have turned into dust.
www.mol.fi is one site were lots of people search for attainable or unattainable opportunities.
But we don’t have centuries to wait or the patience. We want the government and the public servants of Finland to take a more active role in combating all forms of discrimination and racism in this country.
Migrant Tales receives emails regularly from its readers. The one below tells us about a recurring problem that people with high education face in this country: getting a job and unemployment.
As everyone knows, your chances of landing a job hinges in Finland depends as well on your national and ethnic background.
The person below writes in an email: “I want to point out the fact that the language barrier and the economy have nothing to do why foreigners are not able to get a job. Foreigners should not ever blame themselves. I am fluent in Finnish. I’m a living example that doesn’t matter how highly skilled you are in Finnish language or educated, the companies don’t give a flying fuck even you have Harvard degree.”
He continues in another email:
“I’m a 35-years old foreigner and I speak fluent Finnish and who has been living most of his life in Finland. I have BBA degree and still I haven’t got a permanent job in Finland. Last time I sent a CV to a company in Helsinki who was looking to hire a “sales assistant”. I sent the CV at 2 clock on a morning and later on that morning I got response 9 clock stating that they had “already” found a person for the position. Still even today this same company has their application in mol.fi and the expiration date was March 24.
This is just a tip of the iceberg of what I have been dealing with for decades and getting a job in Finland. And it has nothing to do with the “language barrier.” Finnish companies claim that they are not able to hire foreigners because the language barrier or lack of experience. This is not true because companies simply only hire FINNS and foreigners don’t get anything more than the crumbs on the table. I have sent an estimated over 200 CVs and I have never got a single interview in my lifetime. This xenophobia problem isn’t just in Finland but it’s all over Scandinavia and which foreigners just have to “deal” with. If Finland is suppose to be a country that promotes “equality” even for foreigners than why do European and companies from other countries treat Finns better and give them a job while foreigners don’t get anything in Finland?
If language is really the problem why companies don’t hire foreigners then how do they tell me that I don’t have a job because I don’t speak perfect Finnish?”
A woman who was separated from her Iraqi asylum seeker boyfriend after having a relationship for 18 months. I asked if I could call her. She responded: “I am now too tired to speak on the phone. I’m sad and mentally broken by what happened to me and my fiancé.”
She wrote the following to us:
“My boyfriend, known as MZ, was apprehended by the police on Monday (27.3), put in a cell and treated in an inhumanely. They just gave him one meal, nothing else and deported him to Baghdad the following day on Tuesday (28.3). We were engaged and wanted to get married. A week ago, a police offer at the Tampere police station handed him a negative ruling from the supreme district court for asylum.
The police promised us that we can stay together but they lied to us. They did this on purpose and had this on their minds but that was against the law. My husband-to-be was given the wrong decision by the Helsinki district court. I will take the case back to the supreme district court and ask the police to bring him back from southern Iraq. He has no protection there!
My fiancé was send back to Iraq at 8am by a Tampere police officer. He’s the exact person who told my fiancé that he could stay sleep at the Kauppi asylum reception center of Tampere. My fiancé was naturally happy by the news and he trusted the police officer and he put his life in his hands. The police officer chose to send MZ in harm’s and death’s way. I know this as well as my fiancé’s family.
MZ needs government protection because his life is in danger in Iraq. He worked for a US company and got a lot of death threats as a result. The militia are after him and want him dead because they hate all those that worked for the [US]Americans in Baghdad.
Finland does not take any responsibility or gives my fiancé any chances to live. Why, Migri [Finnish Immigration Service], why? Are you sure you can say it’s OK for him to return to Iraq and die? MZ is a young 28-year-old good-hearted man, who had everything that he wanted in his life with me here.
