Fewer Iraqis seek asylum in Finland

Word has spread on tough line adopted

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According to the unofficial preliminary information given by the Directorate of Immigration, a total of 225 asylum-seekers arrived in Finland from Iraq last year, while the figure for 2005 was 289.
     
The number of decisions on Iraqi asylum applications was 200 last year, reports Director of Asylum Unit Esko Repo.
      Six applicants of these 200 Iraqis were granted asylum, while 16 got a residence permit on the basis of a need for protection or for humanitarian reasons.
      A total of 65 applicants were returned to another Schengen country under the terms of the Dublin Convention, and 34 applications were annulled after the applicant had disappeared or cancelled his or her application.
      The remaining applicants were allowed to stay in Finland under the so-called B-permit, which means that they could not be returned to Iraq.
     
The reduced number of Iraqi asylum-seekers corresponds to the general trend. Last year, a total of 2,600 people sought asylum in Finland, which is 1,000 fewer than in 2005. In the record year of 2004, the number of asylum-seekers was more than 3,800.
      The phenomenon is worldwide. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the number of asylum-seekers in western countries has reduced by half during the current decade.
      In any event, the situation in Finland is affected by fhe Finns' own attitudes and decisions as well as the doings of the neighbouring countries.
     
Sweden decided last year to reprocess some applications of those applicants who had not been granted a residence permit but had stayed in the country in hiding. Consequently, the number of applicants coming from Sweden in order to make a new application in Finland has declined.
      Currently, Finland is considering the possibility of repatriating asylum-seekers to Northern Iraq, which is being regarded as safe. However, those applicants who come from other parts of the country will not be returned to that region. According to Esko Repo, no decisions have been made as yet.
     
According to UNHCR figures, the ongoing violence in Iraq has caused as many as one in eight Iraqis - two million people - to flee their home and country. There are also said to be as many as 1.7 million internally displaced refugees.
      Up to a million Iraqis are thought to have crossed into Syria, and some 700,000 to Jordan.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Finland to start repatriating people to Afghanistan and possibly Iraq (4.11.2007)
  Few Iraqi asylum seekers try to come to Finland (26.10.2006)

Links:
  Directorate of Immigration
  Dublin Convention (Wikiped)
  The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

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