Ombudsman finds no fault in treatment of Georgian women

Finnish officials treated a group of 48 Georgian women in a proper manner when they were refused entry into Finland in March 2005, says Parliamentary Ombudsman Riitta-Leena Paunio in a statement issued on Wednesday.
      Paunio took up the matter because the Finland-Georgia Society had issued a complaint on the treatment of the women. The Finnish Border Guard also asked for a public accounting of the veracity of the claims.
      According to the complaint, the officials of the Southeast Finland Border Guard had treated the group of Georgian women, who had entered Finland by charter bus, in a disrespectful manner. It was alleged that the women were labelled prostitutes as soon as they arrived in Finland.
     
One of the key claims on behalf of the women was the use of the word mamasha. In connection with the arrival of the Georgian women, one interpreter "got the impression that someone in the border guard had used the Russian word ‘mamasha’, which means a madame of a house of prostitution, within earshot of the women".
      The interpreter said that the women understood from this that they were suspected of being prostitutes.
      Another interpreter said that a Border Guard employee behaved in an impolite manner toward the women when they were told of the deportation.
     
The Ombudsman did not find any other suggestions in descriptions of the events by the interpreters or the staff of the Joutseno reception centre that would have suggested improper treatment.
      One of the employees at the reception centre described the situation at the centre:
      "The women were undoubtedly disappointed that they could not continue their travel, but all in all, things went well. The women cleaned every day, cooked together, and cared for their grooming. The fact that the trip was cut off certainly caused some people in the group to overreact."
      The Ministry of the Interior denied the claims of the complaint, and the use of the word "mamasha".
     
The Ombudsman found that on the basis of the information that was available, there was no reason to suspect that Finnish officials had treated the Georgians in an inhumane manner, or in a way that violated their human dignity.
      Paunio also found that the Border Guard had given out proper information in the matter. Statements by the Border Guard suggested that the women might be victims of trafficking in humans, but no suspicions of prostitution were voiced.
      Paunio did not take a stand on the issue of whether or not the actual decision to send the women back home was legal. That matter will be decided in a case that is pending before the Kouvola Administrative Court.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Parliamentary Ombudsman to conduct inquiry into treatment of Georgian women (5.4.2005)
  Finnish frontier guards deny all accusations of racism (4.4.2005)
  Hundreds of human trafficking victims pass through Finland each year (1.4.2005)
  Georgian politician: Finland popular travel route to West (31.3.2005)
  Suspicions of human trafficking stigmatise Georgian women (30.3.2005)
  Georgians flown to Tbilisi on Tuesday (23.3.2005)
  Georgian women to be flown home - bus tour via Finland "fit profile" of illegal immigration (21.3.2005)
  Georgian women unaware of details of their "business trip" (18.3.2005)
  Busload of Georgian women stopped at border (17.3.2005)
  Russian officials surprised at reports of human trafficking (16.3.2005)