As of: March 9, 2024, 10:03 p.m
By: Tadhg Nagel
Comments
Press
Split
Finland has closed its borders with Russia.
A law should carve this approach in stone.
There is opposition from NGOs and politicians.
Helsinki - Finland plans to no longer allow people from Russia to cross the country's border in the future - even if they are asylum seekers.
A corresponding draft law is to be presented next week.
This is justified by the possible instrumentalization of immigration as part of Russia's hybrid warfare.
Meanwhile, German politicians are divided in their assessment of the Finnish initiative.
Finland closed all eight border crossings with its eastern neighbor in mid-December last year because around 1,300 asylum seekers and undocumented migrants had arrived since the summer.
Finnish authorities accuse the Kremlin of encouraging asylum seekers to cross their shared border in order to destabilize the country.
It is a “hybrid attack” that Helsinki sees as Moscow’s retaliation for abandoning decades of military non-alignment by joining NATO.
“No signs of Russia changing its behavior” – is Putin threatening Finland’s national security?
While Finland's political class brought the issue to the forefront - it became one of the main topics of discussion during the recent presidential election - it has had little noticeable impact on the lives of much of the population.
But for many of the 93,000 Russian-speaking Finns - including about 38,000 Finnish-Russian dual citizens - the border closure has separated them from their families and other ties to their homeland and fueled feelings of unwelcome.
This is reported by the independent Russian newspaper
The Moscow Times
.
Finland's Interior Minister Mari Rantanen wants to permanently close the border with Russia.
© IMAGO/Roni Rekomaa
In January, Finland extended its border closure until at least April 14 and said it saw “no signs that Russia is changing its behavior.”
According to Finnish border authorities, 3,000 asylum seekers, mostly from the Middle East and Africa, are still waiting for the border to be opened.
They accuse Russia of deliberately smuggling refugees to the border and providing them with money, food, accommodation or transport.
The Finnish government therefore described the influx of arrivals as a “serious threat to national security and public order”.
Helped by Russia to escape - Nevertheless, human rights apply “to every individual”
According to the deputy head of the Finnish Border Guard in Helsinki, Marek Saareks, the agency has information “that there are thousands of people in the St. Petersburg area” who are waiting to come to Finland in this way.
This is what Euronews
writes
.
A Moroccan who came into the country this way seems to confirm the border guard's fears.
He told the portal that the Russian police and the army “helped” in his escape.
Nevertheless, human rights organizations strongly criticize the border closure.
“We have human rights that apply to every single person.
And the government has a duty to respect these rights,” Pargol Miraftab, a legal advisor to Amnesty Finland, told
Euronews
.
An association of Finnish-Russian dual citizens has even taken legal action.
The Finnish population, on the other hand, largely agrees - according to current surveys, 80 percent of Finns are in favor of closing the border with Russia.
SPD and Greens reject migration restrictions - is national security “always a priority”?
According to the portal, some observers see the project as a further step by the right-wing conservative government towards tightening its migration policy.
Finland's Interior Minister Mari Rantanen, however, defended the move to
Welt am Sonntag
as essential for maintaining national security.
This “always has priority, and that is also compatible with EU law”.
At the same time, she called for a reassessment of the EU ban on refoulement.
You have to “change the relevant international agreements”, including at the EU level.
This is the only way Europe can truly protect the fundamental right to asylum.
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What is the EU ban on refoulement (non-refoulement principle)?
The principle of non-refoulement is a fundamental principle in international and European asylum law.
It prohibits states from turning away or turning back people at the border who are seeking protection and may be eligible for asylum.
This principle is also known as the “non-refoulement principle”.
The principle is enshrined in various international agreements, including the Geneva Refugee Convention of 1951 and the Additional Protocol of 1967. It prohibits the return of persons to countries where they are at risk of persecution, torture or other serious human rights violations.
In the European Union (EU), the principle of non-refoulement is also a central element of the common asylum and migration policy.
It ensures that people seeking protection have the opportunity to apply for asylum and that their applications are assessed fairly and individually.
Some German politicians show understanding for the plan, but there is also a hail of criticism.
“Anyone who reaches European borders has the right to be treated decently.
It must be possible to submit asylum applications,” said SPD migration expert Lars Castellucci to
Welt am Sonntag
.
The Greens are also convinced that those seeking protection “in principle should not be rejected at the EU's external borders without an examination of the asylum application,” Julian Pahlke told the paper.
Pahlke is the party's asylum policy spokesman.
The European Court of Human Rights has repeatedly confirmed this.
Pushbacks are also incompatible with the reforms of the European asylum system and the regulations on instrumentalization.
Finland's government is receiving support from Union politicians.
Manfred Weber (CSU), the leader of the EPP in the EU Parliament, signaled support to the newspaper.
Although we stand by the right to asylum, the EU “should not allow itself to be blackmailed” by Vladimir Putin.
Russian aid for migration is “further evidence that we are in the middle of this conflict,” Weber told the newspaper.
Philipp Amthor (CDU) also stated in the report that for him “the Finnish considerations are not only plausible, but also expressly worth supporting”.
Overcoming state borders “should not only be subject to an asylum application, but must also be limited by the reservations of state interests.”
(tpn)