Finland grants asylum and residence permits to dozens of Chechens

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Finland has started granting asylum and residence permits to Chechens on the grounds of the threat of violations of human rights in their home country.
     
The number of Russian asylum seekers grew several times over in Finland around the turn of the millennium. This can be partly explained by the Russian-Chechen war that started in 1999.
      Following the outbreak of the war in Chechnya, Finland's Directorate of Immigration (UVI) has granted asylum to 21 Chechens since 2004, and residence permits to 67 Chechens since 2001, on the basis of the need for international protection.
      Even though the ethnic background of these refugees is not indicated by the statistics, Director of Regional Unit Esko Repo from the Directorate of Immigration reports that almost certainly, nearly all of them are of Chechen origin.
      Prior to this, Finland never granted asylum to citizens of Russia or any other neighbouring country. On the other hand, Chechens have been granted asylum and residence permits even by some other EU countries.
     
According to Finland's Directorate of Immigration, people in Chechnya continue to be victims of violations of human rights.
      However, not all Chechen applicants have been granted asylum or a residence permit in Finland immediately on the basis of need for protection.
     
Some of them have appealed the decisions to an Administrative Court, which can either reject the appeal or annul the decision. In some cases, the appeal process has been successful, and the applicant has been granted a positive decision afterwards.
      Hence UVI has started to give positive decisions to Chechen applicants more frequently.
      "Both the Administrative Courts and the Directorate of Immigration are of the opinion that no Chechen asylum seekers are to be repatriated", Esko Repo reports.
     
"People returning to Chechnya may be subjected to inhuman treatment. Such treatment is a basis for asylum or a residence permit for persons who have applied for international protection. A situation like this involves a question of human rights", explains Repo.
      Besides Chechnya being their home country, the applicants may have even other reasons to apply for asylum in Finland. For example, they might have been supporting or hiding guerrillas.
      Furthermore, some of the applicants have reported that they have participated in fights against Russian armed forces.
      Asylum is not granted if the applicant has committed a very serious political crime or another serious crime prior to arriving in Finland as a refugee. However, no such cases have been recorded during the asylum investigations.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Fearing extradition, Chechen leader declines invitation to seminar in Finland (21.1.2005)
  Journalists complain of blow to Finnish freedom of expression; Chechen website back online (15.11.2004)

Links:
  Kavkazcenter.com
  Directorate of Immigration UVI
  Chechnya - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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