Parents of immigrant background given suspended prison sentences for sending daughter against her will from Finland to Congo

print this

The Helsinki District Court has convicted a couple of African origin for aggravated deprivation of freedom, because they coerced their daughter to move to the Democratic Republic of the Congo for several months.
      The parents were given 14-month suspended prison sentences.
      According to the Ombudsman for Minorities, similar cases have emerged before, but as far as is known hitherto no parents have been convicted.
     
The crime took place in 2006, when the daughter was 16 years old. She had spent half of her life in Finland.
      The parents were concerned about the “bad influence” imposed on their daughter by her circle of friends, and they sent the girl to stay with relatives in Congo to learn African customs.
      The mother accompanied the daughter on the long journey that involved travelling by ship, bus, and airplane from Finland via Central Europe to Africa. The daughter was made known of the destination only when they arrived in Kinshasa, the capital of Congo.
      The father later explained that the destination was kept secret from their daughter on purpose, as otherwise she might have refused to travel and could have “gone to a family shelter or elsewhere”.
      The mother returned from Congo to Finland without the daughter, and - at least as far as the girl knew at the time - carrying the daughter's passport. It later transpired that the passport had been left with a family relative in Congo.
     
The daughter communicated daily with her Finnish classmate through email and asked the classmate to help her to get back to Finland.
      The girl also hoped that her teacher in Finland might be able to help her. According to the teacher, the girl had said that her father had threatened her that she would never be able to return to Finland.
      The Finnish authorities also got interested in the case. After four months the Finnish Police arranged the girl’s return to Finland.
     
The Ombudsman for Minorities Johanna Suurpää explains that every now and again children of immigrants “disappear” in Finland.
      She suspects that parents arrange their child’s return back to the old home country away from Finnish influences, as was the case with the family of Congolese origin.
      Often this happens in the form of a period of time away, after which the young person eventually returns back to Finland.
      The Ombudsman for Minorities considers the sentence imposed by the Helsinki District Court a heavy one, but justified.
      “Cultural and religious reasons do not justify deviation from basic human rights”, Suurpää points out.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  "We Somalis must do more to adapt to Finnish society" (25.10.2005)

Links:
  Finnish Immigration Service
  Ombudsman for Minorities

Helsingin Sanomat