Tuesday saw the right-wing government of Finland propose a new rule allowing border guards to deny asylum applicants their requests in response to a wave of migrants that Helsinki claimed was coordinated by Russia.
Reporters were informed by Prime Minister Petteri Orpo that more legal measures were required following the entrance of almost 1,000 undocumented migrants on its 1,340-kilometer (830-mile) eastern border with Russia last fall.
Helsinki has attributed the increase to what it claims is Russian-orchestrated instrumentalized migration, a claim the Russian government has refuted.
Following the migrant wave, the Nordic nation closed its border with Russia in the middle of December.
Before stating in April that the border would remain closed indefinitely, it repeatedly extended the closure.
Orpo said the proposed law aimed to manage “instrumentalised” migration and“counter the pressure exerted on Finland”.
To stop asylum seekers from entering Finland, a ban on “the reception of applications for international protection” can be imposed for set periods of time, no more than one month, in specific locations along the border.
The plan states that only individuals who are in special need of protection, such children or those with impairments, may apply for refuge in these restricted locations.
Border guards would evaluate their case before granting them the ability to apply.
Others would be expelled “in the first instance by verbal order, reinforced by force if necessary”, said Sanna Palo, who is in charge of legal matters at the interior ministry’s Border Guard Department.
Any “instrumentalised migrant” who entered Finland “would be removed from the country without delay”, the government said.
A governmental decision to enforce the emergency law would be taken in “highly exceptional situations”, based on “knowledge or a justified suspicion” that a foreign state was attempting to threaten Finland’ssovereignty and national security, it said.
It would also require the approval of the country’s president.
The proposal’s detractors claim that it goes against both international accords and Finnish constitutional commitments regarding human rights.
Tuomas Poysti, Finland’s chancellor of justice and the principal investigator of the legality of the government’s actions, stated earlier this month that such a suggestion would be difficult from the standpoint of human rights.
The administration declared that it had considered his comments.
The idea needs a five-sixths majority vote in parliament to become law.
