Ombudsman for Equality asks interior ministry for details about reported re-targeting of refugee quota

By admin On Oct 16, 2024

Minister of the Interior, Transport and Communications Lulu Ranne (PS) attended a question-time debate in the Parliament House on 3 October 2024. Helsingin Sanomat wrote last week that Ranne has instructed officials at the Ministry of the Interior to look for ways to target the refugee quota away from Muslims toward Christians. (Vesa Moilanen – Lehtikuva)

THE OMBUDSMAN for Equality has asked the Ministry of the Interior to provide information on its work to devise the refugee quota for 2025.

The request is connected to a report published last Wednesday by Helsingin Sanomat. Minister of the Interior Mari Rantanen (PS) and Minister of the Interior, Transport and Communications Lulu Ranne (PS), the report claims, have looked for ways to reduce the share of Muslims and increase that of Christians in the quota.

Ranne and Rantanen, who is on leave until year-end, have reportedly instructed ministry officials to devise the quota for next year such that no quota refugees are received from countries such as Afghanistan and that more refugees are received from countries such as Venezuela.

Ranne said to the newspaper that she is not willing to comment on an ongoing lawmaking project.

The Ombudsman for Equality on Friday announced its decision to examine the instructions provided to ministry officials about targeting the quota, pointing to the possibility of reducing intake from certain countries for religious reasons. Under the Finnish constitution, it reminds, no one shall be treated differently without an acceptable reason on grounds such as religion or country or origin.

The Ministry of the Interior will also have to provide the ombudsman with information on all involved officials and copies of all documents relevant to the lawmaking project. The law grants the ombudsman the right to also access and request classified documents.

“To determine whether there are grounds to suspect that the lawmaking process has included discriminatory practices that violate the equality act, the ombudsman is requesting, in addition to the aforementioned information, a detailed report on how the preparatory work on targeting the refugee quota in 2025 has been undertaken,” the request reads according to Helsingin Sanomat.

The Finnish government is scheduled to finalise the refugee quota for next year later this month. Parliament is set to make its decision on the quota by the end of the year.

The government decided during the government formation negotiations to more than halve the annual quota from 1,050 to 500. The Finns Party would have preferred to eradicate the quota altogether, whereas the Swedish People’s Party would have preferred to increase it.

In 2024, Finland is receiving Afghan, Congolese, Syrian and Venezuelan refugees, as well as refugees transferred from Libya to Rwanda. The quota also allows for the reception of refugees without any restrictions based on geography or nationality in response to acute emergencies.

Opposition parties have expressed their dismay with the reported plan to reduce the intake of Muslims.

“I cannot think of as clear of a recent example of discrimination and racism as this kind of effort to limit the share of Muslims in the refugee quota,” Fatim Diarra (Greens) said in a press release on 9 October.

“Taking into consideration the situation of women in Afghanistan, this is completely heartless,” stated Nasima Razmyar, a deputy chairperson of the Social Democrats. “This is about using the plight of people as a tool to promote your domestic policy and racist agenda.”

Aleksi Teivainen – HT

Source: www.helsinkitimes.fi