Finland to start repatriating people to Afghanistan and possibly Iraq
Hundreds of asylum-seekers could be sent back
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The Directorate of Immigration says that it will start repatriating asylum-seekers to Afghanistan and possibly to Iraq. The policy change is likely to mean that dozens - and possibly even hundreds - of asylum seekers will be denied temporary residence permits and will have to leave Finland.
Finland has not returned anyone to Afghanistan or Iraq for years, because officials have considered such repatriations to be technically impossible, owing to a lack of reliable flight connections to the countries in question, for instance.
Finland has granted one-year temporary residence permits to Afghan and Iraqi asylum-applicants, who were not seen to be in need of asylum protection, but whose repatriation was not considered technically feasible.
The police gave the Directorate of Immigration two statements late last year, according to which repatriation to the Afghan capital Kabul and to the Arbil area in the Kurdish region in the north of Iraq has now become technically possible.
The Directorate of Immigration has already changed its policy line concerning Afghanistan, and has given five Afghan asylum-seekers a negative decision. The decisions can still be appealed.
"Afghan applicants will probably not be granted temporary residence permits, if conditions in their country stay as they are", says Esko Repo, head of the Directorate's asylum unit.
Repo estimates that Finland might turn back 60 - 70 Afghan applicants this year, if the numbers of applicants develop as anticipated.
Afghans who are in Finland on temporary residence permits could also face expulsion if they have not established other reasons to remain in Finland. Last year 104 Afghan citizens were given one-year residence permits in the January-November period. In 2005 the figure was 66.
The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees places a number of restrictions on repatriations to Afghanistan, but is not completely opposed to sending people back to that country. Repo says that decisions made by the Directorate of Immigration are based on very fresh information, as an investigator from the Directorate visited Afghanistan in the autumn on a fact-finding tour.
"However, one must keep in mind that it is never possible to know what might happen in the future. The situation in Somalia shows how quickly things can change", Repo points out.
Repatriation to Afghanistan is not exceptional on a global scale. In the European Union, at least Denmark, Germany, Austria and the UK have already done so. However, Sweden currently does not send people back to Afghanistan.
Repo also believes that it is possible that Finland will start sending people back to the Kurdish region in Northern Iraq. The UNHCR says that under certain circumstances, repatriations to southern or central areas of Iraq would be possible, but Finland is not doing so now.
The Directorate of Immigration would have repatriated 77 Iraqi asylum seekers in January-November last year, if the police had been able to implement the decisions. Instead, they were given temporary residence permits.
The Directorate of Immigration will decide in the coming months if it plans to start repatriations this year.
"It is too early to say anything certain because of the fate of Saddam Hussein, as well as other events. We are following the situation to the very end before drawing conclusions", Repo promises.
Sweden and Norway have already returned people to Iraq. Finnish police say that those repatriations have proceeded without any great problems.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 4.1.2007 - TODAY |
 Finland to start repatriating people to Afghanistan and possibly Iraq
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