Prime Minister Petteri Orpo (NCP) and Minister of the Interior Mari Rantanen (PS) briefed reporters about a government bill to combat instrumentalised migration in Helsinki on Friday, 15 March 2024. Orpo argued that although the bill stands in tension with the constitution and international treaties, it is necessary to repel foreign attempts to sow insecurity in Finland. (Heikki Saukkomaa – Lehtikuva)
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THE GOVERNMENT of Prime Minister Petteri Orpo (NCP) on Friday published a draft bill that would enable it to deny entry to asylum seekers and significantly restrict the reception of asylum applications in circumstances where such measures are deemed necessary to combat attempts to exert influence on Finland.
The bill will be open for comments until Monday, 25 March.
Orpo on Friday stated at a press conference that the four ruling parties approved the bill unanimously, adding that he is confident that the bill will win over the necessary backing in parliament. The government is intent on passing the bill as urgent, a procedure that will require a five-sixths parliamentary majority.
Both ministers and government officials acknowledged that the bill stands in tension with the constitution and international treaties. The right to apply for asylum is protected under, for example, the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.
“We’re having to balance between national security, border security, international treaties and even human rights,” the prime minister said.
“This is exceptionally challenging legislatively and full of tension from the viewpoint of basic and human rights,” conceded Sanna Palo, the head of legal affairs at the border guard department of the Ministry of the Interior.
Orpo on Friday argued that international treaties concerning the right to seek asylum were established at a time when no state was abusing them. Finland, however, has been the subject of an influence campaign that weaponises migrants: Russia has orchestrated a flow of migrants to the border since last autumn, effectively utilising asylum seekers and migrants seeking better life as instruments for its own objectives.
The intention has been to undermine national security and public order in Finland, according to Orpo.
“We have to prepare for the situation possibly becoming more difficult when spring arrives,” he said, nodding to concerns that warmer weather could increase the number of migrants at the border. “Authorities need tools to control the land border between border-crossing points.”
Minister of the Interior Mari Rantanen (PS) emphasised at the press conference that the bill is not about immigration but about security policy.
“We have the right and obligation to protect our own borders and our right to self-determination. Naturally at the same time we’re also protecting the external borders of the EU and Nato,” she commented.
Palo on Friday pointed out that the government would have to satisfy a number of conditions in order to invoke the act and restrict the right to seek asylum in a limited area of the border for no more than a month at a time. Finland, she elaborated, would have to be subjected to an influence campaign that seriously endangers its sovereignty or national security.
The Finnish Boarder Guard would be responsible for carrying out the decision – in principle, by denying entry to people seeking international protection in the pre-determined border area.
“Things like fences and temporary obstacles, crowd control measures and so on would be used. But when it comes to people who’ve already arrived on Finnish soil, we’d try to identify people who are in a particularly vulnerable position, such as children and the disabled, who’d be allowed into the country,” said Palo.
She also told that border officials would principally seek to interact with the arrivals to make sure the arrivals have the opportunity to communicate that they are in real danger of torture or the death penalty, for example.
Aleksi Teivainen – HT
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Source: www.helsinkitimes.fi
