Finland’s parliament passes a law to block asylum seekers crossing from Russia. This new law provides border officers power to deny asylum seekers arriving from the Russian side of the border, after more than 1300 people arrived in the country.
Finland has accused Russia of “weaponizing migration” by aiding migrants fleeing from countries such as Syria and Somalia to cross the border. An allegation Russia has apparently denied. Finland shares its border with Russia from the eastern side which is one of the longest external borders of the European Union. In the north, it shares borders with Norway and in the west with Sweden.
Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo has argued that there is a need for emergency measures to combat “instrumentalized migration” for the security of our country and the security of EU borders, even though the law contravenes with international human rights obligations.
It is a temporary law only valid for one-year after its enactment which was voted in favor by 167 parliamentarians while 31 voted against it in the 200-seat parliament. The opposition along with academician, law experts and human rights groups has denounced the law that contradicts with the Finland constitution and international commitments approved by Finland.
Finland had shut its land borders with Russia late last year following the spike in migrants in its borders mostly coming from Africa and Middle-east. But they have reopened two crossing points.
What measures have European states adopted to tighten their borders? And Why?
Finland’s move to pass this controversial bill in spite of not allying with its international commitments is similar to actions taken by other European states to prevent asylum seekers from crossing the border to enter the European Union from Russia or its only ally in EU, Belarus. Recently, Poland and Lithuania have passed laws on similar lines.
On 10 April the European Parliament adopted its Pact on Migration and Asylum to reform EU’s outdated asylum rules. The urgent need of migration reforms were noticed during the 2015 Refugee crisis when the EU saw more than 1 million refugees claiming asylum, fleeing from their war torn countries like Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq.
Frontline EU countries such as Italy, Greece and Spain were overwhelmed by the influx of migrants on their borders since they lacked the capacity to provide basic minimum assistance to such a huge migrant population. The pact has been designed to share the cost of hosting asylum seekers to prevent such a crisis in the future.
The rising tide of the far-right in Europe is quite visible. They have grown since the rise of anti-immigration sentiment in the EU bloc . Large scale immigration has raised security concerns beside fear of losing economic opportunities among Europeans.
Historical connection to Finland-Russia hostile relations
Russia captured Finland from Sweden in 1809 and the Russian Tsar ruled over it for over a century. After the Russian Revolution of 1917, Finland declared itself independent. During the Second World War, the Soviet Union invaded Finland in 1939 where Finland had to cede about 10% of its territory to Russia. Finland then joined German forces’ war efforts in 1941, and reoccupied its territories from the Soviet. But eventually Germany lost its war and so did Finland and had to accept Soviet imposed neutrality.
During the Cold War, the Finnish government made conscious efforts to raise the country’s defense capability. They have implemented compulsory male conscription for men above 18 years for either six, nine or 12 months.
Finland remained a neutral state throughout the cold war. After fearing existential threat to its sovereignty from Russia, Finland officially applied for NATO membership becoming the 31st member of NATO in April 2023. The Russian military offensive against Ukraine has backfired since it had actually led to NATO’s expansion.
