Following on and off news about the repatriation of Finnish citizens from the al-Hol refugee camp raises a lot of questions about our society. The opposition, namely the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* and National Coalition Party (NCP), are working overtime to score brownie points with the voters and fearmongering.
The commotion is now stirred by the repatriation of two women and six children. Considering that Finland is a country that claims to abide by social justice and the rule of law, some politicians’ behavior is shameful, self-centered, and cowardly.
Even if the path to repatriating the women and their children is a winding and difficult road for the government of Prime Minister Sanna Marin, the best matter that could be done is to repatriate all the Finnish citizens.
Why?
According to a statement by the ministry of foreign affairs, “Under section 22 of the Constitution of Finland, Finnish public authorities are obligated to safeguard the basic rights of the Finnish children interned in the camps insofar as this is possible. The basic rights of the children interned in the al-Hol camps can be safeguarded only by repatriating them to Finland.”
Forgetting that in our society, a person is considered innocent before proven guilty, politicians from the PS, NCP, and Supo, the Finnish Security and Intelligence Service are busily in lynch-mob mode.
The tweet below by Orpo on Sunday reads: “The repatriated adults [two women] are, according to Supo, a security risk to Finland. The government has the responsibility to ensure that those who committed crimes and involved in terrorist activities face justice and that the safety of the Finns isn’t endangered.”
PS party secretary Simo Grönroos takes it a step further in the tweet below.
He writes: “ISIS women have no business in Finland. The reality is that the red-green government brings them to Finland at the cost of taxpayers. We must put an end to this craziness.”
Even if nobody is playing down the threat of terrorist groups like ISIS, there is a strong aftertaste of Islamophobia and misogyny, especially when women abandon their culture for another like Islam.
If anything, the whole affair reveals how easily we are incited by racism.
With all the lynch-mob statements by politicians and society in general together with the news hype, one wonders if these women could ever receive a fair trial in Finland?
I’d be interested in knowing how.
