I got to know Amir* in 2016 when he was living in the Kolari asylum refugee center. Thanks to his help and those of others, the asylum seekers of the reception center organized a demonstration that ended with the deputy manager, Jari Sillantie, getting sacked. Amir, an Iraqi, came to Finland in 2015 like so
Read on »Posts Tagged: asylum
A Russian asylum seeker’s escape to freedom from Russia and Finland
Migrant Tales insight: Ogneslav Shevchenko, 36, is a Russian national with Ukrainian parents seeking asylum in Europe. Once you get to know him a little, you notice that he has traveled for many years, searching for a country where he is free from persecution. His story is like others seeking asylum and traveling in the
Read on »Challenging Finland’s racism problem:Raise your voice, trust yourself, and don’t succumb to fear and self-censorship
When I moved to Finland over forty years ago, there were only about 10,000 foreigners living in the country. The biggest national group were the Swedes, who were mostly Finns who had become naturalized citizens of that country. One of the questions we asked back then was about the level of racism in Finland.
Read on »Iraqi asylum seeker detained in Tampere by the police on Friday was released today
The nineteen-year-old asylum seeker from Iraq, who was detained by the police on Friday awaiting possible deportation was released today at about 1 pm, according to his representative.
Read on »After detention for 27 days in Finland, Iraqi asylum seeker gets rejection for work permit after half-a-year wait
Remember an Iraqi asylum seeker called Hayder Al-Hatemi who was detained for 27 days from January 6-February 2 pending a deportation order? He applied for a work permit on February 6 shortly after his release and had learned at the beginning of August that it had been turned down.
Read on »CORRECTION: Sixth Iraqi asylum seeker detained by police facing deportation to Iraq
Migrant Tales has learned of a new case of an Iraqi asylum seeker, DH, who was detained Sunday in Pori and is now awaiting deportation to iraq at the Metsälä detention center.
Read on »UPDATED (7:32 am): Iraqi asylum seeker MS’ deportation from Oulu Airport in Finland postponed due to diorderly behavior
Migrant Tales has access to a video published in the Facebook group called Suomi ja Pakolaiset where MS is awaiting deportation inside a police van at Oulu Airport in northern Finland. MS was detained by the police on Friday.
Read on »Migrants’ Rights Network: The challenges facing migrants’ rights campaigners in 2017
MRN’s new Director, Fizza Qureshi, welcomes the New Year and the major challenges it brings. The picture may look bleak, but that’s no reason for pessimism. It’s a spur to building alliances and campaigning harder for a rights-based approach to migration.
Read on »Iraqi asylum seeker gets asylum application turned down as his family members are attacked by the militia
The Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) is planning to reassess the security situation in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia after an initial assessment in May deemed these countries to be safe to return asylum seekers.
Read on »Iraqi asylum seeker in Finland: A journey that began in a tormented land
Migrant Tales is very happy to receive mail from readers. Below is a story about an Iraqi asylum seeker that lives in Finland. These types of stories are important because, contrary to the media, offers a human face to asylum seekers.
Read on »Institute of Race Relations: Back to Schools Against Borders for Children
Below we interview members of a new campaign, Schools Against Borders for Children (ABC), set up to resist the encroachment of border controls in schools.
Read on »(Migrants’ Rights Network) The Calais Jungle – a beacon for the fight against refugee injustice
The Jungle camp in Calais has challenged the indifference of official Europe to the plight of refugees for close on two decades. It has survived previous attempts at demolition. As long as the grievances that gave rise to remain it will come back to haunt the conscience of the continent.
Read on »Migrants’ Right Network: Saving the gains of the Schengen agreement requires European solidarity on protection for refugees
Much of the news commentary on Europe seems to assume that the Schengen open borders arrangement will vanish in the next few months. That would be a disaster. Saving it will require a reversal of the current refusal of solidarity with countries at the frontline of the refugee flows.
Read on »Migrants’ Rights Network: 2015 – The year when immigration became an indissolubly European issue
Halfway through December seems like a good time to sketch out some ideas on what 2015 might come to mean in a history of immigration which has yet to be written.
Read on »Migrants’ Rights Network: Lessons of Paris – Borders won’t protect us: Solidarity with refugees remains the best hope
The Friday 13th attacks in Paris are being interpreted by many commentators as politicians as a watershed moment in public attitudes towards refugee policies in Europe.
Read on »Alan on Alan: A picture is worth a thousand words
Alan Anstead We had the same name, Alan. But apart from that our worlds were completely different. Alan Kurdi was a Syrian Kurd, escaping with his family from war and terrorism. I’m a working class Peckham (London) boy and 50 years older than my namesake was. What the photograph of Alan’s lifeless body washed up
Read on »Migrant’s Rights Network: How the legacy of racism continues to make ‘others’ out of migrant people
The ongoing crisis on the Mediterranean has shed light on an old unsolved – and clearly so often poorly addressed problem at the heart of Europe: namely its relation with its Other.
Read on »Migrants’ Rights Network: Warning – a renewal of ‘fortress Europe’ policies is not the answer to the refugee crisis on the Mediterranean
Two high level meetings of EU political leaders in one week might encourage the belief that something positive is going to be done to address the tragedies of the last few days on the Mediterranean. But if the heads of government statement that emerged last Thursday is anything to go by it is clear that lessons are not being learnt.
Read on »Institute of Race Relations: Language testing of asylum claimants – a flawed approach
By Aisha Maniar Following a critical Supreme Court judgment on the Home Office’s use of controversial language analysis tests to determine the nationality of asylum seekers, Aisha Maniar asks: why does the government insist on using these tests? Read orginal posting here. Language is a crucial element of the identity of each and every one
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