The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has urged Finland to better protect the legal rights of asylum-seekers and to make sure that all procedures concerning the processing of asylum applications are according to Finland's international obligations.

   

The committee made public some of the recommendations it made to Finland on Friday evening, after holding discussions with representatives of the Finnish government and non-governmental organisations in Geneva.

   

Eero J. Aarnio, the head of the Finnish delegation at the meeting, says that an official protocol of the meeting will come out later.

   

Aarnio added that it is apparent that the committee will find that Finland's rapid processing of some asylum requests does not meet the human rights regulations of the Finnish Constitution, or those of the UN.

   

Finland passed a law on fast-track processing of asylum applications in 2000 when there was a flood of asylum applications from large groups of Roma or Gypsy arrivals, who were not considered to be in need of asylum.

Under the rapid processing procedure,

the asylum-seeker first speaks with a police officer, who then forwards the application to the Directorate of Immigration. A decision is made within seven days.

   

Aarnio says that the system in its present form is contained in a proposal for a new aliens' law, which will come before the Finnish Parliament this autumn.

   

The UN committee recommends that Finland should avoid discrimination against the Roma community by all means possible.

The committee also urged

Finland to seek a solution to the dispute over land rights for the Sámi or Lapp population, and to join the International Labour Organisation agreement on the rights of indigenous peoples. Aarnio pointed out that Finland has ratified all other human rights documents except for this ILO agreement.

   

As for the Sámi people, the committee urged Finland to give more weight to the personal views of individuals concerning their identity.

   

Finland is also encouraged to keep track of all tendencies that encourage racism, and to fight against racist propaganda on the Internet.

The committee also praises Finland

for its overall implementation of human rights.

   

Aarnio points out that under Finnish law a racist motive for a crime can be considered an aggravating circumstance, and membership in an illegal organisation - including a racist organisation - is now seen as a crime.

   

Finland has reported to the UN on the implementation of anti-discrimination laws since the 1970s, when there were just a handful of foreigners living in Finland. Now there are more than 100,000.

Meanwhile at least three

members of the Sierra Leone team in the FIFA Under 17s World Championships in football currently being held in Finland applied for asylum on Friday.

   

A total of 14 members of the team failed to show up at Helsinki-Vantaa International Airport on Thursday when they were to have left for home.

   

The Directorate of Immigration said that the applications would be processed normally.

   

In the summer of 1998 an Albanian youth football team and its coach applied for asylum after the Helsinki Cup. The team had decided to apply for asylum already before arriving in Finland. The applications were denied, but some of the players were allowed to stay, because they had settled in this country and married during the time that their applications were being processed.