Thursday’s A-talk exposed once again Interior Minister Mari Rantanen for what she is: A minister with a far-right worldview who loathes Muslims and other people of color. During the talk, she was ready to shelve international agreements that give foreign nationals the right to seek asylum.
“Yes, I would urge us to reconsider and start thinking about whether in this security environment we can guarantee the safety of our citizens by following precisely old agreements [The 1951 Refugee Convention and human rights agreements] that were made in a totally different era,” she said but fell short of fully trashing such agreements.
“These agreements were made in a completely different period,” she continued but then fell short of trashing all of Finland’s obligations to asylum seekers.
“This does not mean that we wouldn’t follow present international agreements during normal times,” she added.
With her foot next to her mouth, she considered the whole asylum system “absurd.”.
“If we have a system whereby you can cross the Finnish border to seek asylum and that’s it, and be part of a process, a very long process, it makes it very easy to use the system [to your advantage]. [All you need to know is] one word [asylum] and that’s absurd.”
If Minister Rantanen could have her way, Finland would have trashed international agreements protecting asylum seekers and refugees.
One question emerges from Rantnanen’s comments, taking into account her far-right background and conspiracy theories, what credibility does she have and is she ready to feed Muslims and people of color seeking asylum to the dogs?
