refugees Archives - Page 3 of 7

Finland says yes to Commission refugee scheme but is still wishy-washy about its role in the crisis

Posted on September 11, 2015 by Migrant Tales

While the announcement by Interior Minister Petteri Orpo that Finland will accept 2,400 asylum seekers under a European Commission scheme is a positive step in the right direction, according to YLE in English, what message does it send?

For one, Orpo said that Finland doesn’t support commission plans to have a permanent mechanism to manage the flow of refugees and migrants entering Europe in ever-larger numbers.

While Orpo’s choice of words is a question of semantics, we still don’t have a clear idea what Finland’s role will be in the humanitarian crisis. Is it seeking a European solution or does it want to follow Hungary’s example by treating refugees inhumanely and leaving them out in the cold?

As long as the populist anti-immigration PS is in government we will never know for sure.

Read full story here.

As this government bungles from one crisis to the next, watch closely who makes the announcements.

Timo Soini, PS chairman and foreign minister, naturally spoke to the media about his party’s pet issue: immigrants. He said that the government is studying the possibility of lowering grants given to asylum seekers by 37% to about 200 euros from 318 euros now.

This was exactly what was done in Denmark, where the Islamophobic Danish People’s Party (DPP) is tightening subsidies and immigration policy. The PS and the DPP are close ideological allies.

But that’s not all. The PS is spearheading plans with the government’s blessings to demote asylum seekers that have got residence permits to be treated as second-class members of society.

Soini, who’s been accused of being a turncoat and faces a growing revolt in his party, announced that he wants to de-link funding for asylum-seeker integration programs from the housing benefits system. This means that some migrants will not get the same social welfare benefits as Finns irrespective if they live in Helsinki or Lieksa.

Some analysts believe that such steps are unconstitutional.

* The Finnish name for the Finns Party is the Perussuomalaiset (PS). The English names of the party adopted by the PS, like True Finns or Finns Party, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and xenophobia. We therefore prefer to use the Finnish name of the party on our postings.

Our indecision and indifference to the humanitarian crisis facing Europe is the greatest threat

Posted on September 2, 2015 by Migrant Tales

In the face of the humanitarian refugee crisis that we are seeing today in Europe, some leaders like German Chancellor Angela Merkel are offering leadership while others are frozen with indecision and indifference.

It is disappointing that Finland, which had to relocate over 400,000 of its own refugees after hostilities ended with the former Soviet Union in 1944 is one that is gripped by hesitation and have, like other Eastern European countries, meekly answered Merkel’s call.

What did the German chancellor say?

“There will be zero tolerance for those who put in question the dignity of other people,” she said warning people to stay away from far right and xenophobic rallies. “Don’t follow their leaders or those who have prejudice, coldness, even hate in their hearts.”

Why does she say this? Because Germany hasn’t forgotten those rivers of blood that flowed in World War 2 and the Holocaust.

Finland’s President Sauli Niinistö’s and Prime Minister Juha Sipilä’s lack of leadership in the face of the humanitarian crisis isn’t a coincidence. Both of them reveal with their lack of resolve why this country has become in recent years fertile ground for xenophobia and ultranationalism.

Read full story (in Finnish) here.

Continue reading “Our indecision and indifference to the humanitarian crisis facing Europe is the greatest threat”

A cemetery called the Mediterranean

Posted on August 29, 2015 by Migrant Tales

This will be one of the shortest posts ever published in Migrant Tales thanks to a picture published on the front page of El País of Madrid. Those dots on the water are people who got shipwrecked off the coast of Libya.

This is tragically not the first picture showing people shipwrecked, on crowded vessels or floating lifelessly on the Mediterranean.

These are real people that Europe and our politicians have turned their backs on.

Every time we look the other way or deafen our ears to their cries we chip away a piece of our humanity and values.

Shame on Europe. Shame on you and me.

Thousands of people are visiting since Thursday a post on Migrant Tales that was published in May.

When does a trickle become a flood when speaking of refugees?

Posted on August 18, 2015 by Migrant Tales

When we speak of refugees, when does a trickle become a flood? Perussuomalaiset (PS)* MP Olli Immonen, the far right politician who warned us recently about the “nightmare of multiculturalism,” who uses and warns us of “an avalanche” of refugees since 1,000 more refugees came to the country in July versus the same period last year.

Some Finnish media, like MTV3, even ask President Sauli Niinstö about this “flood.” The Finnish head of state, who has usually been quite on the rise of xenophobia in Finland, claimed without giving any figures that we should get “ready that the number of refugees to Finland will rise significantly.

Here is a new story by MTV3 that speaks of the “flood” of immigrants. There are no clear numbers, only colorful terms that instill fear like “flood” nd “avalanche” are used to describe the situation. Read full story (in Finnish) here.

“We have already seen a record number of asylum seekers have soared this summer and we must must get ready ready that their numbers will grow significantly,” he was quoted as saying on MTV3.

While the human tragedy going on in war-torn countries like Syria are a cause for grave concern, is the situation made any better if we start to fear-monger in the same way as far right groups by using terms such as “flood” and “avalanche?”

Certainly not.

Continue reading “When does a trickle become a flood when speaking of refugees?”

Finland’s attitude and experience of cultural diversity lag thirty years behind other European countries

Posted on May 21, 2015 by Migrant Tales

Watching YLE’s A-studio, which was aired Wednesday, is a prime example why we are still far away in Finland of having an inclusive society that is fair to everyone irrespective of their background. Spotting the red herrings in the debate on such a talk show isn’t easy but not impossible.

If National Coalition Party MP Wille Rydman argues that Finland needs structural changes in its economy and labor market, it really needs a major attitude overhaul on how it sees immigration and cultural diversity. Finland is at least 30 years behind other European countries like Sweden, Germany and the United Kingdom in this respect.

Watch Wednesday’s A-studio (in Finnish) here.

The latter means in practice that we’re debating the same things and using the same false arguments and fears that were proven wrong at least three decades ago in other European countries. Debate is highly inflamed and hostile for those migrants and minorities living in Finland today.

Continue reading “Finland’s attitude and experience of cultural diversity lag thirty years behind other European countries”

Treating immigrants in Finland as the problem IS the problem

Posted on April 28, 2015 by Migrant Tales

What’s wrong with the ongoing debate in Finland concerning immigration, refugees and cultural diversity? The problem is that they are treated as a problem by politicians, the media and public.*

Instead of treating these three matters as “a problem” we should make an effort to think outside of the current anti-immigration political climate and see them as a solution and opportunity for our country.

By treating immigration, refugees and cultural diversity as problems we begin to despair and give space to the ugly side of ourselves: hatred, intolerance and bigotry that mutate into populism, hate speech, intolerance and xenophobic political parties.

Want to solve the problem? Then repeat after me:

* Special thanks go to Markku Ikonen in Australia for sharing this idea with us.

When the term immigrant becomes a red herring

Posted on April 4, 2015 by Migrant Tales

If there is a report, a story or some tale that sounds fishy it may suggest a red herring. One of these types of stories that should have received more scrutiny from the media was a report published Thursday by Perussuomalaiset (PS)* thinktank Suomen Perusta, which attempted to place a price tag on immigration.

There are a lot of questions that the 75-page report raises concerning methodology and why the study only mentions refugee, or quota refugee to be exact, once and labels all national groups as immigrants.

The Suomen Perusta report defines “immigrant” as any person who was born abroad but lives in Finland. Is this the definition that YLE uses in its story? We don’t know because YLE doesn’t tell us.

Does YLE define immigrant in the same way as the UN? The UN defines an immigrant as any person living in a country for over a year irrespective of the reason why he or she moved to another country.

An important question: Why does the PS use the term immigrant and only mentions refugee once? Certainly most Somalis that live in Finland came here seeking asylum. Even so, they are placed in the same group of “immigrants” with Germans, who are EU nationals.

True, the definition of immigrant could generally apply to Somalis but I think it is misleading especially in a study sponsored by an anti-immigration party like the PS.

Continue reading “When the term immigrant becomes a red herring”

Finland’s interior minister wants more quota refugees in 2015

Posted on July 9, 2014 by Migrant Tales

Interior Minister Päivi Räsänen of Finland, who considers homosexuality to be a sin and wants to tighten immigration laws, said on YLE that she would like to raise the number of quota refugees next year by 300 to 1,050 from 750.

While this is welcome news, especially for the few hundred refugees that will get a new life in our country, one wonders why Räsänen is making such a statement in July, when most Finns are on vacation.

Räsänen has been no friend of migrants never mind refugees. This is the same politician that denies ethnic profiling by the police, has done nothing to loosen costly family reunification requirements, and oversees a ministry that detains asylum seekers who are minors.

Does the announcement by her have to do with the fact that Finland takes in so few refugees to begin with?

While even giving one person asylum is important, the 300 extra quota refugees that Räsänen speaks of is a drop in the bucket, even shameful, considering our country can do much more to help families who are victims of war and persecution.

Read full story (in Finnish) here.

Räsänen states that the rise to 300 more quota refugees has to do with the good reception that municipalities have given to refugees.

Räsänen said she’d prefer quota refugees from Syria.

According to Eurostat, Finland gave asylum to 1,795 people and in fourteenth place when compared with other EU countries. Excluding Iceland, which gave asylum to 15 people, Finland took the least amount of refugees in the Nordic region after Sweden (26,395), Norway (6,770) and Denmark (3,360).

Read full Eurostat statement here.

Between 2003 and 2013, Finland has missed its 750-quota refugee target: 746 in 2013, 734 in 2012; 626 in 2011; 634 in 2010; 727 in 2009; 737 in 2008; 727 in 2007; 676 in 2006; 690 in 2005; and 679 in 2004, according to Finnish Immigration Service (FIS).

Four in five Swedes express concern over xenophobia

Posted on June 28, 2014 by Migrant Tales

Swedes are more worried about the rise of xenophobia in their country than the ever-growing number of immigrants, according to The Local, citing a study by the SOM Institute of Gothenburg University. The survey revealed that while 49% expressed concern over immigration levels, 78% were worried about the rise of xenophobia.

Read full story here.

Writes The Local: The negative attitude towards xenophobia is likely due to the fact that the topic has been a hot one for the past two or three years, said Marie Demker, a political scientist, was quoted as saying.

“I noticed that people fell that xenophobia threatens society,” she said. “We talk an awful lot about xenophobia and there is also a strongly negative attitude to all forms of racism and xenophobia.”

Demker said that it was “quite clear” that her countrymen and countrywomen were more worried about attitudes towards immigrants and refugees than they were about foreigners themselves.

Compared with the “what do you think about immigrants” surveys carried out in Finland, we can learn a lot from Sweden. Instead of asking if Finland should increase the number of immigrants, why don’t we ask them their opinions about xenophobia? Irrespective if a country has few or many immigrants, few will say that there are too few immigrants, which reveals that these types of surveys have loaded questions.

Meanwhile, Eurostat announced last week that Sweden took in 20% (26,395) of all asylum seekers in the EU in 2013. That was followed by Germany (26,080), France (16,155), Italy (14,495) and the United Kingdom (13,400).

Finland ranked 14^th with 1,795.

Read full story here.

How can you, Finland, loathe migrants and refugees if you were one?

Posted on April 27, 2014 by Migrant Tales

How can a country like Finland, which saw over 1.2 million people emigrate during 1860-1999 and resettled 420,000 Karelian refugees after the Continuation War (1941-44) with the former Soviet Union, loathe migrants and speak contemptuously against refugees? How do you explain the rise of an anti-immigration party like the Perussuomalaiset (PS) that grew from a mere 5 MPs in the 2007 elections to 39 MPs in 2011?

How is it possible that the president of that party, Timo Soini, could claim on national television Thursday that it was immoral if people fled war and came to Europe as refugees instead of fight for social justice in their war-ravaged homelands?

Posing next to a monument for those Finnish migrants and refugees in the southern Finnish city of Hanko that left this country during 1880-1930. The picture was taken in 1980 by Erkki Siirilä.

Why do we continue to call evacuees those who fled their former homes and lands because they were ceded to the USSR? Why do we still refer to Soviet citizens who fled the country to the West as defectors and not refugees?

The answer is pretty clear: Denial of our history mixed with the shadow of the cold war, which ended with the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Add to the latter the fact that we’ve done everything to kill diversity in the last century and a picture emerges. Our identity rests in that diversity. Erasing it is like erasing ourselves and our history.

Such a one-sided view of who we are and our history was and still is possible thanks to a closed and exclusive view.

Certainly it was politically correct to call Karelians and people from Petsamo and Salla “evacuees” and Soviet citizens “defectors” as opposed to refugees. Our giant eastern neighbor wouldn’t have liked it.

Our own prejudices and racism is nothing more than denial of who we are. We still lack courage to challenge this denial. However, time is on our side and one day we’ll be able to see the last century in a different light. This will make us stronger, not weaker.

The ethnic and racist fairy tales of some Finnish politicians and parties like the PS is based on your ignorance and theirs.