HS Foreign 2.1.2001 - Changes in asylum laws stopped the flow of Romas from Eastern Europe

The numbers of asylum-seekers entering Finland from Eastern Europe collapsed at the end of last summer, shortly after the introduction of a legislative amendment to the Aliens Act that allowed the rapid processing and return of asylum-seekers from so-called safe countries. The law came into effect from July 10th.

At the beginning of last year around 200 Polish Roma tried to get into Finland each month, with the peak figure being 217 in April. Late June still saw a steady flow, as asylum-seekers citing discrimination at home attempted to get in before the law came into force, but by August the number had slumped to 16, and since then there have been none whatsoever, according to the Directorate of Immigration.

The same picture emerges with Slovakians; in July around 50 arrived to fill in their applications, following the ending of temporary visa requirements in mid-month. In August they were joined by another 26, and since then there have only been sporadic individual attempts.

The Directorate of Immigration points out

that the figures for these and Czech asylum-seekers are provisional, but the trend is unmistakable. Even so, the totals for the year to the end of November show an overall increase in the number of applications on the 1999 figure, reflecting the boom in asylum-seeking in the early part of the year.

The main countries affected were Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and also Romania, Bulgaria and Lithuania.

One cause for some concern

has been the Helsinki Administrative Court's worry over whether it would be able to process in the eight days required a sizeable number of complaints against rejection of asylum by applicants from a country that is NOT obviously in the "safe" category. Only a large group of appeals such applicants can give the new system the field-testing it requires.

For the sake of brevity, details of the new "speeding-up" legislation and the background to its implementation are given in the links below, and in stories attached to them.