Tag: Finland

Sikh busman confident that employer will lift turban ban

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Busman Gill Sukhdarshan Singh is confident that his employer, Veolia Transport of Vantaa, will honor a Southern Finland Regional State Administrative Agency ruling that imposing a turban ban by the employer was discriminatory.

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Source: Gill Sukhdarshan Singh.

”I have no doubt that that in two months, when I will get written permission from the employer, I will start wearing a turban at work,” Sukhdarshan Singh told Migrant Tales.

The Southern Finland Regional State Administrative Agency gave the Veolia Transport of Vantaa until the end of Septempter how the company plans to redress the problem.

Sukhdarshan Singh said that what he did was for all Sikhs living in Finland and “to further multiculturalism.”

”Multiculturalism means that my children can appreciate both cultures,” he said.

Two of his children study at university and one at high school.

Let’s challenge Finland’s disgraceful family reunification obstacles

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Migrants’ Rights Network (MRN) of Britain shows how organizations can do valuable work in lobbying for change against unfair family reunification laws (see Migrant Tales 28.6.13). Politicians, who have tightened such laws, are short-sighted and have created a tragedy for those who live separated from their loved ones. 

The same suffering that separated families suffer in Finland are similar to the tragedy they are going through in other European countries like Britain.

“During the year since the Government announced its changes to the family migration rules, MRN has heard from hundreds of families who have been kept apart from one another – couples split across continents, young children separated from parents, elderly relatives kept apart from relatives who wish to care for them in the UK,” writes MRN.

Tighter family reunification requirements came in force in 2011. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that one of the main factors behind these changes was the anti-immigration Perussuomalaiset (PS) party’s growing popularity in the polls and its historic election victory in April 2011.

New rules that came in force in two years ago have made family reunification ever-complicated and costly. One big change in the rules is that family members must now apply in their home country or at the nearest Finnish embassy. As a general rule, the minimum that a three-member family must make monthly to bring their loved ones is 2,880 euros, according to the Refugee Advice Center.

Family reunification applications have plummeted as a result of tightened rules. In 2012, there were just over 500 applications compared with 1,900 in the previous year and 3,900 in 2010. All in all, there were 8,600 application in 2012. Finnish Immigration Service (FIS) reported earlier that at the end of 2011 there were a total of 6,100 family reunification application by Somalis alone. According to the Refugee Advice Center, only 329 family reunifications took place on average annually between 1999 and 2010.

How do the new rules make life ever-difficult for refugees and immigrants and how are they kept in limbo? The answer to that question is simple: How would it feel to live separated from your loved ones for years and with little hope that your family will ever be reunited in Finland?

Some of the problems of righter rules are highlighted on Fahamu Refugee Legal Aid Newsletter: “Tightening the rules for family reunification would put the protection of the right to family life under severe risk. In response to the current political climate as it relates to refugees, the Finnish Refugee Advice Centre, the principal non-governmental organisation offering legal aid for refugees, has issued a statement on the risks of tightening the policy on family reunification in Finland.  Rules are already very strict, constituting an obstacle to refugee integration for those already settled in Finland, who continue to live in uncertainly regarding their families.”

While FIS claims lack of and to handle the backlog of thousands of applications, the real reasons are anti-immigration Christian Democrat Interior Minister PäiviRäsänen and unofficial efforts to stop as many Somalis as possible from moving to Finland.

Under Räsänen, Finland continues, despite obligations under international laws, to detain as a first resort children seeking asylum for long periods of time. The interior minister, whose tough stance on immigration and refugees is liked by the PS, has said publicly that  homosexuality is a sin.

Even if it may be in vogue in some circles to be against immigrants and cultural diversity in Finland, politicians, the media and public must look further ahead in the future. Do we want to assist in destroying and fragmenting the lives of thousands of people who are already traumatized by war and displacement?

That is exactly what we are doing as long as we continue on the present path.

A good start would, however, be to challenge the unfair family reunification rules.

The example of the fine work by the Migrants’ Rights Network would help us draft a plan in Finland.

Landmark decision in Finland: Sikh busman can wear a turban at work

Posted on by Migrant Tales

The Southern Finland Regional State Administrative Agency announced that banning a Sikh busman from using a turban at work was discriminatory, reports YLE in English. The decision is an important watershed and a victory for other minorities living in Finland. 

The busman, Gill Sukhdarshan Singh of Vantaa, was prohibited from using a turban at work and decided in May to challenge the decision.

The agency said that Singh’s employer, Veolia Transport Vantaa, was guilty of indirect discrimination and ordered the firm to report by the end of September how it plans to redress the problem.

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The decision in favor of Singh should be seen as a watershed since it will propel greater cultural diversity and tolerance at the workplace.

Eva Biaudet, Finland’s ombudsman for minorities, applauded the decision. She said it was a significant step forward in making cultural diversity more acceptable at the workplace.

Sing’s victory over his employer is a good example of how far Finland lags behind other European countries concerning cultural diversity. Sikh bus drivers in England won such rights over forty years ago in 1969.

 

 

Soaring unemployment in Finland hits immigrants and visible minorities especially hard

Posted on by Migrant Tales

It was shocking to read how Finland’s jobless rate shot up in May to 10.8% from 9.5% a year ago. Since immigrant unemployment is about three times higher than the national average, it means in theory that the unemployed rate for immigrants is at least 30%. 

Matters are expected to get worse before they improve.

The Bank of Finland sees Finland’s economy shrinking this year by 0.8% and growing in 2014 by 0.7%, which will cause unemployment to rise to 8.6% next year. The Bank of Finland doesn’t see unemployment retreating significantly in 2015.

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Read full story here.

Immigrants, who are usually the last to be hired and the first to get laid-off in a recession, are in an especially vulnerable position. The situation is exacerbated by the lack of political support and prejudice.

Since no media or politician will stand up for the immigrants and young immigrants, Migrant Tales will do so proudly.

If you want to get a depressing view of the situation, take a look at unemployment among young people (15-24 years), which rose by 4.5 percentage points to 35.2% during the month under review. What does it say about the jobless rate of second-generation Finns?

It was twenty years ago when Finland suffered its worst-ever recession in a century in the early 1990s, which caused unemployment to soar to about 20%. People who had expensive mortgages to pay were especially hard-hit.

Those who lived and survived that period, remember the cutthroat atmosphere that existed at the time. Immigrants and non-white Finns were especially vulnerable. If you had a score to settle with an employee or a coworker at work, the recession helped you to stab a knife in his or her back.

That recession of the early 1990s showed how vital it is for immigrants, and workers in general, of having a political voice in the country.

If we don’t have a voice, we are easy pickings and subject to gross abuse.

That’s why fighting racism is so essential.

 

PS MP Hirvisaari gets publicly enraged with daily Etelä-Suomen Sanomat

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP James Hirvisaari has done it again. He didn’t lambast immigrants and Muslims this time, but got publicly enraged with a journalist working for Lahti-based Etelä-Suomen Sanomat (ESS). What happened? Ari Helminen reported that Hirvisaari, together with another PS MP, had the most absences in parliament during spring. 

Hirvisaari is from Asikkala, a town located near Lahti.

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The news, that Hirvisaari and PS MP Ismo Soukkola had been absent from eight parliamentary sessions without an excuse, was apparently too much for the MP.  Hirvisaari tweeted that ESS’ Helminen had “betrayed his trust” and that he will never greet or answer the journalist’s phone calls.

”…I don’t want to have anything to do with liars,” he continued. ”The worst rotten journalism [in Finland] is by TS [Turun Sanomat] and ESS. Extreme abuse of power, unfair and manipulation of people’s [opinion].”

Hirvisaari’s former aide, Helena Eronen, who wrote about sleeve badges in April last year, blamed Turun Sanomat for taking her opinion piece out of context.

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Read PS MP James Hirvisaari’s tweets here.

Reading about Hirvisaari’s outbursts is nothing new from this cantankerous politician, but sadly reveals why Finland has become a country where intolerance and hatred have raised their heads big time.

Migrant Tales wrote back in May: ”Every time a PS MP like Hirvisaari opens his mouth, he actually helps the PS lose its appeal among voters and what’s important its chances of being a partner in a future government.”

Hirvisaari was sentnced for ethnic agitation in 2011.

Even so, he has continued to insult gays, immigrants and visible minorities in Finland.  His far right Islamophobic credentials were reinforced when he announced that he publicly supports the Finnish Defense League.

 

 

 

 

 

 

About half of the PS MPs want to deny Finland’s cultural diversity

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Roughly half of the 39 Perussuomalaiset (PS) MPs have signed a draft law that would in effect deny Finland’s ever-growing cultural diversity in the youth law. If PS MP Olli Immonen had his way together with twenty other PS MPs, Finland would go into denial mode and conveniently brush its immigrants and visible minorities under the rug.

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Social Democratic Party youth wing chairman, Joona Räsänen, criticized Immonen’s draft law. He said that the PS doesn’t want Finland’s youth to think that multiculturalism and diversity in our society are good matters.  Read full story (in Finnish) here.

It’s not first that Immonen, who is chairman of the far right Suomen Sisu association, has drafted anti-immigration laws.

PS MP Immonen claims on his Facebook wall that in the present youth law multiculturalism is considered a good matter. “In my opinion, it shouldn’t be the law that should determine whether multiculturalism is a good matter or not. Let everyone determine it for themselves.”

With MPs like these and many others, it’s not difficult to spot the red herrings in their arguments. In simple English, Immonen is saying that Finland should not become culturally diverse and that we should do everything possible to prevent people who are different from us from moving to this country.

How many more of these laws, which have no chance in passing in parliament, will have to be drafted before we understand that Finland’s third largest party in parliament is not only racist but would destroy this country?

Twenty-one PS MPs have signed the draft bill. Some of these are Jussi Halla-aho, Jussi Niinistö, Juho Eerola, James Hirvisaari, Vesa-Matti Saarakkala, Ritva Elomaa, Reijo Tossavainan, Teuvo Hakkarainen and others.

 

 

 

 

Zuzeeko’s blog: Finland – Discrimination accounts for high Somali unemployment

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Zuzeeko Tegha Abeng

Somalis are among the largest groups of immigrants in Finland. They are also among the largest unemployed group of immigrants in the country. Many people [mistakenly] think that the high rate of unemployment among Somalis is because they are not willing to work. This, in my view, is not the case.

Kuvankaappaus 2013-6-24 kello 15.04.55Read original posting here.

Somalians in Finland have been stereotyped as lazy and depend on social welfare, despite numerous news reports that of all immigrants in Finland, Somalis (including those with language skills and a profession) find it most difficult to find work.

During the Midsummer weekend, I had a discussion with a couple of people about the employment situation of Somalis in Finland. The majority of those involved in the discussion promulgated the view that most people of Somali origin are unemployed because of lack of education, “laziness” and dependence on KELA, the Social Insurance Institution of Finland.

In my opinion, the assertion is incorrect, stereotypical and sheds light on widespread prejudice and negative attitudes towards Somalis in Finland.

According to a report by Yle, the highest rates of immigrant unemployment in 2010 were among Somalis, Iraqis and Afghans who arrived Finland as refugees. The rate of unemployment for the three nationalities  stood at over 50%.

The Director of Immigration Affairs for the City of Helsinki pointed out in the Yle report that “discrimination is clearly the big reason” for the high rate of unemployment among Somalis. According to the director, “of those who have been here 15 to 20 years, half have completed degrees in Finland”.

The director’s statement debunks the assertion that Somalis in Finland are unemployment because they are uneducated, lazy and enjoy being dependent on KELA.

In my view, employer discrimination and negative attitudes towards Somalis account for the high rate of unemployment among Finland’s largest group of Africans.

According to Helsingin Sanomat, one reason for the high rate of unemployment among immigrants in Finland is the fact that Finnish employers regard Finnish education and Finnish work experience as better than foreign equivalents. But immigrants from Somalia experience difficulties finding work, despite the fact that many of them have Finnish education. According to researcher Tuula Joronen, negative attitudes and impressions account for the phenomenon.

As high as 58% of Somali immigrants in Finland were unemployed at the end of 2003. [Source] The unemployment rate stood at 43.3% in 2008. [Source]

In 2010 and 2011, the risk of unemployment was highest among Somali speakers than among any other language group in Finland – according to Statistics Finland. Followed by high risk among Arabic, Persian and Kurdish speakers.

A poll revealed that Somalis and Muslims are among the groups most affected by racism and intolerance in Finland.

It is plausible to conclude from the aforementioned that prejudice, negative attitudes and employer discrimination against Somalis partly account for the high rate of unemployment in the Somali community. Many Somalis have learnt Finnish language and many have Finnish degrees and training. They should be employed without discrimination.

There was a total of 7,468 Somalians in Finland in 2012.

Read original blog entry here.

This piece was reprinted by Migrant Tales with permission.

 

Should Finns trust the police?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

“…when the laws have ceased to be executed, as this can only come from the corruption of the republic, the state is already lost.”

Montesquieu (1689-1755)

A survey by T-Media reveals that Finns trust the most the police, educational and justice system and the least the media, EU and employer’s associations. Of those surveyed, 69% responded that they didn’t trust the media.

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Even  if close to two-thirds of Finns trust their police, should we in light of the revelations by Edward Snowden of vast global surveillance by the National Security Agency (NSA) and GCHQ?

A good case in point is a request  by the Finnish Security Intelligence Service (Supo) for increased surveillance powers.

One matter that should worry us is not the Supo request per se but how little some Finnish politicians, the media and public appear to care for oversight and transparency, which are crucial to the survival of our Nordic welfare state democracy.

Would the police and Supo abuse such power if they got greater surveillance rights?

The proper question we should ask, however, is what guarantees does the public have that the police and Supo will not go as far as theNSA and GCHQ? Do we have any idea how much we are being surveyed in Finland?

The best way to secure trust and an effective checks and balance system through proper oversight is paradoxically mistrust.  It would be naive, even reckless, to believe that the police and other agencies that claim to defend and guarantee our security will always do so in our best interest. Power always corrupts.

Just like corporations can get greedy, so can military and public institutions.  Securing support and vast funding means putting out a lot of spin and hype in order to instil fear in the public that we are constantly under threat.

Asking the military and national security agencies to make the world a more secure place is like asking a madman to make the world saner.

It will never happen.

 

 

 

Immigrants and visible minorities would be the biggest losers if Supo gets greater online surveillance powers

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Is it a coincidence or just bad timing that the Finnish Security Intelligence Service (Supo) wants greater online surveillance powers? It was only last week when Edward Snowden revealed to the world how the NSA accessed private information of billions of people without their knowledge never mind their permission. 

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Read original story here.

Who would be the biggest losers if Supo and the police were given greater powers?

Not only would Finnish society lose, especially immigrants and visible minorities, who would be the targets of increased surveillance by Supo and the police.

In a live interview on The Guardian, Edward Snowden explained what was wrong with costly and out-of-control National Security Agency (NSA):

“Journalists should ask a specific question: since these programs began operation shortly after September 11th, how many terrorist attacks were prevented SOLELY by information derived from this suspicionless surveillance that could not be gained via any other source? Then ask how many individual communications were ingested to acheive that, and ask yourself if it was worth it. Bathtub falls and police officers kill more Americans than terrorism, yet we’ve been asked to sacrifice our most sacred rights for fear of falling victim to it.”

In the late-1980s, there was little to no oversight of Supo. Friends of a Supo agent could easily access sensitive Interpol files on a person with the help of a phone call. Surveillance of foreigners back then was finding out if they participated in demonstrations, supported human rights as well as other “normal” information about what people do in a democratic society.

The track record of the police and its attitude of immigrants and visible minorities reinforce a worst-case scenario.

Apart from no black or visible minorities in the Finnish police force, the treatment of Finland’s first suspected terrorism case is another example that should keep us on our toes.

The father of our Western democratic system, Baron de Montesquieu, should never be forgotten. Since power corrupts, an effective checks and balance system ensures that matters don’t get too out of hand. 

National Police Commissioner Mikko Paatero gave his support to the Supo initiative.

Finland’s Data Protection Ombudsman, Reijo Aarnio, correctly poited out that a new set of problems would arise if the police expand their surveillance rights.

“When expanded police powers are proposed, there should always be an evaluation of what the effects will be,” he said. “That includes a determination of whether an envisaged threat has changed so much that these powers are genuinely needed.”