Espoo surprised at planned asylum-seekers' reception centre in Otaniemi

More asylum-seekers arriving in Finland than for many years; sharp rise in unaccompanied minors

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The number of people applying for asylum in Finland has surprised the Finnish Immigration Service and has caused something of a stir in the Greater Helsinki region.
      The Ministry of the Interior's Migration Department has asked Espoo and Helsinki for help in the reception of the new arrivals.
      The number of places in reception centres has already doubled from that at the beginning of this year. There are now some 2,000 places available across the country, but even this is not enough.
      "According to our forecasts, the number of asylum-seekers could break through the 4,000 mark this year", says Sirkku Päivärinne, who head's the ministry's International Protection Unit.
     
Reception centres have been expanded and plans are under examination for the setting up of completely new centres.
      The need for additional facilities is particularly acute in the capital region and in those areas within easy access of the capital.
      Helsinki's intention to place adult asylum-seekers in the former dorm of the National Police College on the Otaniemi campus site has been met with much astonishment in Espoo.
      The City of Espoo had for its own part earmarked the building as additional accommodation for students at the Helsinki University of Technology, which is also located in Otaniemi.
      Espoo's Director of Social and Health Services Juha Metso says that whilst the reception of refugees is naturally a shared task, the discussion about suitable locations should have been carried out rather more carefully than it has been.
     
Helsinki, meanwhile, says that the project was driven by the Ministry of the Interior, who expressed a request for expanded facilities and offered the site in Otaniemi.
      The proposal was on the table at a meeting of the City of Helsinki's Social Services Committee on Tuesday, but Social Services Department head Paavo Voutilainen withdrew it when it became clear that Espoo were in the dark over the matter.
     
What is planned for Otaniemi is a temporary reception centre, capable of taking in 150-300 asylum-seekers.
      It would act as a kind of way-station for two years, where asylum-seekers could stay while police and immigration officials make the necessary enquiries about their applications.
      Under an agreement with the state, Helsinki receives adults and families seeking asylum from abroad.
     
This year we have also seen roughly 500 underage asylum-seekers with no adults accompanying them. This is a steepling rise from the 97 recorded in 2007.
      The Interior Ministry's Migration Department has turned for help to Espoo, with which it has an agreement on the reception of minors without an adult guardian.
      Espoo's Social and Health Affairs Committee resolved on Tuesday to make available space for 24 children by the end of this year in a building in Muurala.
     
Since 2005, Espoo has also run the Ingas home for underage asylum-seekers, offering space for 11 children, but this is already overloaded, with double the prescribed number of occupants.
      Most of the underage asylum-seekers come from Iraq, Somalia, or Afghanistan.
      The majority are boys of 16 to 17 years, but this autumn has also seen an exceptional number of girls arriving.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Number of asylum-seekers shows upward trend (9.6.2008)

See also:
  Record numbers of underage asylum seekers arrive in Finland recently (20.10.2008)

Links:
  Finnish Immigration Service
  Ministry of the Interior: International Protection

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