Tag: Finnish Immigration Service

A dramatic Monday when demonstrators almost halted a deportation to Afghanistan

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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.

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How interpreters, the police service and Finnish Immigration service mislead asylum seekers

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I came up with the following issues when translating some asylum decision cases from the Finnish police service:

First: When the police give a negative decision to an asylum seeker there is only one interpreter giving the information to that person. The person translates-interprets the main essence of the decision, or why the person got a negative decision and will have to return to his or her country. You are also told that you have 30 days to appeal.

In the last paragraph of the decision, however, it states: The decision has to be translated to the mother tongue of the person concerned or in another language known to him or her. In Finnish it reads: Päätös on tulkittava henkilön äidinkielelle tai muulle hänen ymmärtämälleen kielelle (UIKL 203S).

Source: MTV.

Second: In the document where the negative decision is given, there is no mention of the Aliens Act (Ulkomaalaislaki) and no one translates this to the asylum seekers and explains what the law is. For most asylum seekers there is not only a need to translate but to explain as well the law to them because some may have a limited educational background or even be illiterate.

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Asylum seekers: Finland is not a country that abides by the rule of law

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What does a comment by a police service official say about our country if he obstructs an asylum seekers’ right to justice? Migrant Tales understands that an Iraqi family, made up of a husband, wife, mother-in-law and a child, was told the following by a police official after receiving their first rejection for asylum from the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri).
 
“Don’t appeal the decision [to the district court] because you’re going to get a negative decision anyway,” the police official is said to have told the family.
 
What does the answer from the police official reveal about his knowledge of our legal system and who has access to it? 
 
Children demonstrating in May at the Kolari asylum reception center that led to the sacking of the deputy manager.

The police official’s answer to the family reveals, in our opinion, not only contempt for the asylum seekers but for our laws and institutions.

If we have police officials that advise and give legal counsel to asylum seekers as if they had a crystal ball, it’s clear that we’re in trouble. We are in a predicament because for the police official to give such advice it means that their is widespread complicity.

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Announcement by Lex Gaudius: Immigration Service, police and government petition

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IMMIGRATION SERVICE, POLICE AND GOVERNMENT PETITION

Dossier Faulty decisions made by the Immigration Service to the asylum seekers and actions of the authorities related on them.

Underwrites Representatives of the asylum seekers from Afghanistan and Iraq; In cooperation with International law firm Lex Gaudius

 

I. FAULTY DECISIONS MADE BY THE FIINISH IMMIGRATION SERVICE

– (GENERAL) There have been many faulty decisions depending on different reasons some as:

  1. Unprofessional translators;
  2. Unprofessional new employees, who did not receive a proper training in such a delicate matters as issues regarding asylum requests;
  3. The employees who were responsible on valuating and making the decisions regarding singular asylum requests, were put under pressure because of the goal settled by the directors of the Immigration Service;
  4. Sources used by the Immigration Service are not comprehensive. Sources should be updated and enlarged. A crucial matter is that the Immigration service uses a large  amount of sources and facts given by the Human Right organizations’ reports;
  5. The Finnish Immigration Service’s country reports regarding Iraq and Afghanistan are not in line with the Swedish one. Country reports are not in line with the Swedish or international Human Rights organizations;
  6. The Finnish Immigration Service is interpreting the law more strictly than required, due to political pressure. For example, the Finnish Immigration service is applying the internal flight option against recommendations by international Human Rights organizations or the Swedish guidelines. For example, Sweden does not apply internal flight to Sunni Arabs in Iraq;
  7. Many times cases are not evaluated individually. Standard statements are copied to different kinds of cases, even when it has nothing to do with the person in question.

(SINGULAR) There have been many contradictory and illegal decisions some as:

  1. Huge amount of asylum cases where it is applied the article 88 e of the Finnish Law for the foreigners (Ulkomaalaislaki is applied 2004/301). There are too many cases where the Immigration service believes that the asylum seeker is persecuted in his home country and that he would have all the grounds for being granted a refugee status, nut still the Immigration service decides that the asylum seeker can return safely in another part of his/her home country. Asylum seekers coming from South and North Iraq are sent in Bagdad and asylum seekers coming from Bagdad are sent to Southern Iraq;
  2. Three brothers from Bagdad with same personal stories and backgrounds, one living in Helsinki and the other two living in Seinäjoki. The one living in Helsinki got refugee status while the 2 brothers living in Seinäjoki got negative decisions by the Immigration service and are now appealing to the administrative court.
  3. Two brothers, one gets asylum and the other one not, although they have the same case. The only difference is that the one with a positive decision is 13 years old; [1]
  4. The Finnish Immigration service claims that they apply the benefit of doubt in unclear cases. However, reality is quite the opposite – in many cases the Immigration service claims without further proof that there is no persecution or danger of persecution in the future; [2]
  5. Breaking the UN convention of the Rights of the Child, article 10 (families whose members live in different countries should be allowed to move between those countries so that parents and children can stay in contact, or get back together as a family). The Finnish Immigration stated in this decision that is in the best interests of the child to grew up without the presence of the father. [3]

The administrative court has serious difficulties in finding a remedy to all deficiencies made by the Immigration Service. All of those negative decisions given by the Immigration service on wrong grounds, put in danger the legal rights of some asylum seekers.

The Finnish Chancellor of Justice, Jaakko Jonkka, has criticized the methods of the Immigration service when its employees examined the cases of the asylum seekers. This is extremely serious criticism, that has to be taken in consideration properly. The Immigration Service has admitted its mistakes but still many of those faulty decisions have now power of law, meaning that all this new information, which is coming out, can’t rectify the faulty decisions.

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Thank you asylum seekers for exposing Finland for what it is!

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Finland got during 2015 and 2016 38,017 asylum seekers mostly from Iraq (21,698), Afghanistan (5,939) and Somalia (2,408), according to the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri). Even if these asylum seekers have received the government’s and Migri’s cold shulder, we should thank hem for exposing our deep denial of racism as a society and ineffective immigration-integration policy.

While the government of Prime Minister Juha Sipilä is quick to point out that those 38,000-odd asylum seekers were housed and taken care off when they came here, it’s only part of the truth.

The full story is radically different and kept under wraps: The government squandered hundreds of millions of euros just to fulfill theirs and especially the Perussuomalaiset’s (PS) anti-immigration policy that hinges on racism, prejudice and greed for political power.

We spent hundreds of millions of euros just to keep tens of thousands of asylum seekers in asylum reception centers twiddling their thumbs.

Most of the organizers against the asylum seekers’ demonstration Saturday were members of the Perussuomalaiset party, according to the Kaivuri blog. We can’t say for certain but in the picture above is Ilmajoki city councillor Juha Mäenpää of the PS speaks at the event. Mäenpää said in December 2015 that “god had answered his prayers” when an asylum reception center was razed to the ground. Migrant Tales will post another story later today about the impact of Saturday’s demonstration.

Apart from revealing how unjust the government’s and Migri’s immigration and asylum policy is, asylum seekers in Finland have brought out the best in our society by showing that there are many of us who still believe in Nordic ideals such as social equality and fairness.

It’s clear that the government has lost its humanitarian compass if we look at its track record on immigration policy and its treatment of the most vulnerable sectors of society, like the unemployed and those that live below the poverty line.

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Finland’s deep denial of racism coupled with exceptionalism make it susceptible to right-wing populism and fascism

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“One the most infuriating decisions that I have seen lately was taken by the Helsinki District Court. The judges claimed in this particular decision that the poor Iraqi woman  – who was harassed and threatened  by a Sheikh – should have made a complaint to the local police station in her country against her own tribe’s decision regarding honor crimes. (And thus her asylum application was rejected).”

Boiata

If the latter claim above is true, it explains and reveals why Helsinki District Court judges agree with most of the decisions by the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri). The fact that only a minor amount of decisions by Migri are rejected by the district courts speaks volumes about the state of our country and how decisions are made. 

Ethnocentrism? Finnish exceptionalism? Xenophobia? Bigotry? Racism? Ignorance? Fear?

When a society or the courts agree overwhelming on decisions by another public entity or when the police claim that they don’t ethnically profile anyone we know that something isn’t right.

The district court’s track record is another factor that makes us doubt their integrity. Remember in 2013 when MTV revealed an internal report by the Helsinki District Court that showed judges used derogatory labels for blacks (n-word), Russians, Jews and gays as well as sexually harassed women at parties?

On top of this, the Helsinki District Court claims that such unprofessional behavior didn’t influence the decision of judges.

Who should we believe?

Great news for us, bad news for the Perussuomalaiset, which have seen their poll standing plummet for a number of months. Source: YLE.

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Boiata: Ignorance of a country’s background information does not excuse judges – ignorantia facti non excusat

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There is an old legal maxim in latin that confirms the principal,  “ignorance of the law does not excuse” (ignorantia iuris non excusat). On the other hand there is a principle that the court or the judge has to know the law,  iura novit curia. One is entitled to expect that the judges know what they are doing and what laws they are applying to various cases. 

In asylum and immigration cases knowing the law is not enough. The judge has to take in consideration also the facts concerning the country where the asylum seeker is coming from. Does this sound reasonable? Let’s make an easy example. Every judge in Finland by now is well aware that in Iraq there is severe tension between Sunni and Shiite Muslims. (That was really easy.) But how many judges in Finland (or inspectors of the Finnish Immigration Service) know something about Iraqi tribal customs?

This is a really important question since the outcome of so many applications depend on it! As Finns, we have difficulties in understanding the tribal customs in Iraq and the decisions made by tribal leaders, also called Sheikhs. I suspect that many asylum applications handled by the Finnish Immigration Service and the Administrative Court of Helsinki are outright faulty because of the misleading thought: If it doesn’t happen in Finland, it cannot happen elsewhere.

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Day 25 of the Helsinki demonstration by asylum seekers: We are happy that you are a thorn in the government’s and Migri’s side

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Twenty-five cold days have elapsed since a group of asylum seekers decided to exercise their democratic rights and protest deportation and the government’s strict asylum policy.  The longer these demonstrators protest the deeper the thorn will penetrate the government’s and Finnish Immigration Service’s (Migri) side. 

The government’s and Migri’s tough stance against the demonstrators is and will turn against them. Why? Because they base their hardline strategy on their own prejudices and bigotry.

The asylum seekers must know that two mainstream parties, the Center Party and National Coalition Party (NCP), have given a near-free hand to the Islamophobic and anti-immigration Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party to draft laws like that tightening of family reunification. They have also turned some of you  into undocumented migrants.

When I look at the actions of the government, my memory goes back to the early 1980s when Migri was run by Eila Kännö, a woman that some compared her management style to Benito Mussolini’s. The extremely strict immigration policy of Finland at the time was so much out of touch with public opinion that the then Aliens’ Office destroyed its credibility and eventually itself.

It became clear that the Aliens’ Office could no longer be run by a self-styled autocrat.

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Day 18 of the Helsinki demonstration by asylum seekers: What about if Finland’s asylum policy is a cover-up?

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The fact that the district courts agree in vast majority with the rejections handed by the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) speaks volumes of the serious problem and our responsibility as a nation to grant protection to those who need it.

Finnish politicians like Interior Minister Paula Risikko of the National Coalition Party and officials like Päivi Nerg of the interior ministry and Migri head Jaana Vuori wash their hands of the problem by passing the buck. They claim they are only following what the EU does and that the district courts totally agrees with the vast number of decisions by Migri.

The fact that the vast majority of decisions made by Migri are given the seal of approval by the district courts may reveal that there are many problems that are being brushed under the carpet. From a distance, it looks like a good brother system where everyone looks after each other.

With respect to the EU, we know that different countries have different procedures. EU member Sweden, for example, accepted  73% of asylum applications in the third quarter while in Finland the corresponding percentage was 28%, according to Eurostat.

Concerning rates of acceptance, Finland is in the same dubious league like the Czech Republic (32%), France (32%), United Kingdom (28%), Ireland (19%) and Greece (18%). The worst of the worst are Poland (16%) and Hungary (12%). Contrarily, the most generous countries – excluding Sweden – concerning granting asylum are Spain (77%), Malta (77%), Slovenia (74%), Romania, Estonia and Germany with 73% apiece.

If Finland is “following the EU crowd,” why are there more rejections in this country than in Sweden?

Considering that Migri head Vuori has admitted that it was overwhelmed by the large number of asylum seekers that came in 2015, what mistakes did it make and is ready to admit? Speaking with different human rights observers, there is concern that Migri hasn’t done a thorough enough job in processing asylum applications because of the lack and inexperience of new personnel.

Add to the latter the negative and even hostile political climate against migrants and especially asylum seekers and a worrying image emerges.

Is there enough political will in Finland to investigate such a matter?

Picture taken of the demonstration on Saturday. Still going strong after eighteen days on February 28. Photo by Enrique Tessieri.

The best evidence we have that Migri has done an inefficient job is its high “success rate” with the district courts, which may show more complacency due to the ongoing political climate which sees asylum seekers as a threat.

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