Europe is good at hiding its very big dirty secrets. German news magazine Der Spiegel revealed the inhuman treatment of refugees at European borders by publishing a report on Frontex by the European anti-fraud office OLAF. And that’s not all: The Guardian reports that 92 naked refugees were rescued at the Greek-Turkish border. Writes Der
Read on »Posts Tagged: refugees
European Network on Religion & Belief: Babah Tarawally and the importance of hope and your narrative
I had the opportunity to attend on 6 October the European Network on Religion & Belief’s (ENORB)* General Assembly, when writer and columnist Babah Tarawally gave an inspirational talk on hope and Ubuntu, an African philosophy that draws strength communally. As many migrants and minorities readily learn, hope is the fuel that keeps one from
Read on »How will we treat Ukrainian refugees in Finland?
The interior ministry estimates “tens of thousands” Ukrainians moving to Finland as a result of the war in that country, according to Yle News. There are about 7,000 Ukrainians in Finland, but Anna Rundgren, a ministry of interior senior specialist, believes that the actual figure is several times higher. In 2015, the country saw a record
Read on »A racist explanation by the chair of parliament’s foreign affairs committee of Finland why Ukrainian refugees are better than other ones
Despite all the objections to racism and Islamophobia in Finland, the silence and sub-rosa nods why such social ills continue to take root in the country. The chair of parliament’s foreign affairs committee, Jussi Halla-aho of the far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS)*, explained why Europe should open its arms to Ukrainians and shut the door on refugees
Read on »Exposing white Finnish privilege #83: War doesn’t give a hoot if you are white or black
The war in Ukraine is like a sinister brew boiling over death, destruction, tragedy, hatred, and xenophobia. Apart from the shock and horror, our double standards and jingoism stand out as a stark reminder that we have done little to challenge the very social ills that caused the deaths of tens of millions of people
Read on »Migrant Tales Literary: Fatima
Leo Honka Who is Fatima? Who is the person wishing us from the Joutseno immigration removal center a kind, “Good night. Loved ones.” Fatima is only a name. It houses no human because it is only a name written on paper by a plane dropping bombs, a tank shelling civilians, and a woman hoping for
Read on »PS’ Mika Niikko: Muslims should be prohibited from having a family
Perussuomalaiset MP and chair of the foreign affairs committee, Mika Niikko, said in Helsingin Sanomat that he’d only want to give asylum to Afghan women and girls. Niikko’s and the PS’ xenophobic views of asylum seekers are exposed. “I am not heartless to not help women and children who seek to come and seek shelter from a
Read on »ELGS Migration Summer School 2019 22-27 July 2019 in Sounion, Greece
Click here to see the oiginal posting.
Read on »WARNING RACIST CONTENT: Helsingin Sanomat survey exposes the DNA of Finland’s racism
Helsingin Sanomat’s survey published on Monday after another questionable story on “model immigrants” was widely criticized on social media as outright racist. Even so, I would like to thank Finland’s largest daily for exposing the DNA of Finland’s racism and the continued low caliber of its journalism on topics related to asylum seekers and migrants.
Read on »An active citizen needs to learn at school about two crucial matters: empathy and social activism
If we look at history and today’s Europe and globally, it becomes clear that most people who went to school that too many never learned about empathy and social activism. A positive example of the latter is Elin Ersson, who refused to take a seat on a flight before they removed an Afghanistan deported asylum seeker off the plane.
Read on »My name is Raghad Mchawh and I’m from Syria
My name is raghad, I’m from Syria. I’m 18 years old and I’m 10 years older than the war that rages in my country.
Read on »The story of two asylum seekers in Finland: Arezo’s and Saboora’s three drawings
Two women, a young mother of two children, and of a teenage girl who traveled with her family to Finland in 2015. Both have something in common even if they are from different countries: Both are refugees who still don’t know if they will get asylum in Finland. Two years have gone by since their long
Read on »DH’s Finnish fiancée speaks about his detention and possible deportation to Iraq: “This is so nerve-racking and unfair!”
DH was detained on Sunday by the police in Pori and his fiancée, who is eight weeks pregnant, claims that the police set up a trap for her partner.
Read on »A sick Iraqi asylum seeker asks for mercy in a country that supposed to offer it
As the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) makes life difficult for asylum seekers in Finland with the approval of Prime Minister Juha Sipilä’s government, take a look at an Iraqi asylum seeker in the video below from the Pudasjärvi asylum reception center of northern Finland.
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 »Are asylum seekers escaping war now the target of arson attacks in Finland?
A building which was supposed to house asylum seekers in Niinisalo has been burned, according to tabloid Iltalehti.
Read on »UPDATE: Finnish asylum center in Kempele is intimidated by local residents and moves to an undisclosed location
It is shameful that an asylum reception center in Kempele, where an alleged rape of a minor took place on Monday by a suspected 17-year-old asylum seeker, has caved in to pressure. Kempele is the hometown of Prime Minister Juha Sipilä, who offered in September his home to asylum seekers.
Read on »The most outrageous picture I’ve seen of a racist in Finland
A picture that appeared with a story on YLE left me speechless. The arrival of a few thousands of refugees Finland has brought out the worst in some Finns, like in the picture that shows a man in Ku Klux Klan garb and a Finnish flag protesting the establishment of a refugee center in Lahti.
Read on »Facebook: Finland’s abstension and pitiful explanation why
Finland’s ambassador to Switzerland, Jari Luoto, isn’t too happy about Finland’s abstention on Tuesday when interior ministers met and decided to distribute 120,000 refugees.
Read on »Facebook: REFUGEES WELCOME (TO FINLAND) ????
There are some disturbing reports that have emerged in the media about how some asylum seekers in Finland are getting a hostile reception. Trish Pääkkönen gives us a taste of what she went through when she tried to help a group of refugees at the the Helsinki and Espoo police stations.
Read on »Finland says yes to Commission refugee scheme but is still wishy-washy about its role in the crisis
While the announcement by Interior Minister Petteri Orpo that Finland will accept 2,400 asylum seekers under a European Commission scheme is a positive step in the right direction, according to YLE in English, what message does it send?
Read on »Our indecision and indifference to the humanitarian crisis facing Europe is the greatest threat
In the face of the humanitarian refugee crisis that we are seeing today in Europe, some leaders like German Chancellor Angela Merkel are offering leadership while others are frozen with indecision and indifference.
Read on »A cemetery called the Mediterranean
This will be one of the shortest posts ever published in Migrant Tales thanks to a picture published on the front page of El País of Madrid. Those dots on the water are people who got shipwrecked off the coast of Libya.
Read on »When does a trickle become a flood when speaking of refugees?
When we speak of refugees, when does a trickle become a flood? Perussuomalaiset (PS)* MP Olli Immonen, the far right politician who warned us recently about the “nightmare of multiculturalism,” who uses and warns us of “an avalanche” of refugees since 1,000 more refugees came to the country in July versus the same period last year.
Read on »Finland’s attitude and experience of cultural diversity lag thirty years behind other European countries
Watching YLE’s A-studio, which was aired Wednesday, is a prime example why we are still far away in Finland of having an inclusive society that is fair to everyone irrespective of their background. Spotting the red herrings in the debate on such a talk show isn’t easy but not impossible. If National Coalition Party MP
Read on »Treating immigrants in Finland as the problem IS the problem
What’s wrong with the ongoing debate in Finland concerning immigration, refugees and cultural diversity? The problem is that they are treated as a problem by politicians, the media and public.* Instead of treating these three matters as “a problem” we should make an effort to think outside of the current anti-immigration political climate and see them
Read on »When the term immigrant becomes a red herring
If there is a report, a story or some tale that sounds fishy it may suggest a red herring. One of these types of stories that should have received more scrutiny from the media was a report published Thursday by Perussuomalaiset (PS)* thinktank Suomen Perusta, which attempted to place a price tag on immigration. There are a lot of
Read on »Finland’s interior minister wants more quota refugees in 2015
Interior Minister Päivi Räsänen of Finland, who considers homosexuality to be a sin and wants to tighten immigration laws, said on YLE that she would like to raise the number of quota refugees next year by 300 to 1,050 from 750. While this is welcome news, especially for the few hundred refugees that will get a new
Read on »Four in five Swedes express concern over xenophobia
Swedes are more worried about the rise of xenophobia in their country than the ever-growing number of immigrants, according to The Local, citing a study by the SOM Institute of Gothenburg University. The survey revealed that while 49% expressed concern over immigration levels, 78% were worried about the rise of xenophobia. Read full story here.
Read on »How can you, Finland, loathe migrants and refugees if you were one?
How can a country like Finland, which saw over 1.2 million people emigrate during 1860-1999 and resettled 420,000 Karelian refugees after the Continuation War (1941-44) with the former Soviet Union, loathe migrants and speak contemptuously against refugees? How do you explain the rise of an anti-immigration party like the Perussuomalaiset (PS) that grew from a mere
Read on »Timo Soini’s latest comment about refugees leaves many speechless but exposes him to the raw
Sometimes politicians make incredible statements that leave you speechless. The latest one I heard was Thursday on a MEP election television debate on YLE Fem, the Swedish-language television channel. Said Perussuomalaiset (PS) chairman Timo Soini: “Is it morally right to leave one’s homeland during ever-difficult times or should one stay put and fight for justice? Would it have been
Read on »Workshop highlights perceptions, problems and challenges of immigration in Greece
Workshops that debate and challenge immigration issues in economically hard-hit countries like Greece are never too many. One of these took place on Friday at the University of Peloponnese and was organized by the Scientific Association of Young Political Scientists. According to a statement: The issue of immigration has become a major national issue and
Read on »Interior Minister Päivi Räsänen is on the anti-immigration warpath again
Anti-immigration and anti-gay hardliner Christian Democrat interior minister, Päivi Räsänen, said on YLE in English that she’s in favor of tightening immigration policy further by closing a “loophole” for asylum seekers. Under the present law, those asylum seekers whose application has been turned down, can get temporary residence for two years before acquiring a permanent
Read on »PS MP Jussi Halla-aho doesn’t like cultural diversity, never mind Africans and Muslims
I’m not going to expend a lot of energy on analyzing what Perussuomaliset (PS) MP Jussi Halla-aho wrote in a recent blog entry. All of what he writes about migrants, especially refugees, is demeaning and negative. One sentence in particular, however, caught my attention and which exposes the anti-immigration politician to a tee. Read full story
Read on »Bank accounts for the stateless – money laundering legislation is not an excuse for financial exclusion
This post follows on from a recent post by Enrique on continued practices of financial exclusion in relation to individuals who have had difficulties establishing their identification with Finnish authorities and have subsequently had problems opening bank accounts. It is also a response to one commentator’s fallacious claim that money laundering legislation is an adequate
Read on »Strict banking laws in Finland leave refugees without bank accounts and discourage foreign investment
Stateless refugees cannot still open bank accounts in regions like Etelä-Savo in Eastern Finland, according to Länsi-Savo, a Mikkeli-based daily. Not only are stateless persons affected but different municipalities that want to attract foreign investment. Some small- and medium-sized companies that want to relocate in Finland from Russia have a difficult time opening bank account
Read on »Migrant Tales (March 13, 2012): Stateless persons do not have the right to open a bank account in Finland
Here is a pretty odd case that I encountered Monday (March 12) when I went to Nordea bank in Mikkeli to open an account for a stateless person. After a few questions, the bank employee said that the person needs a valid passport to open an account at that bank. But if on that passport
Read on »Migrants’ Rights Network: Another tragedy in Lampedusa, one too many
Clara Dublanc* The migrant boat disaster off Lampedusa has highlighted the struggle of Southern EU members to deal with migrant flows. It is time that Europe steps up and accepts shared responsibilities for the external borders of the Union. Last Thursday 3rd October, the small Italian island of Lampedusa witnessed
Read on »Saving one life, one refugee from Syria, IS important
Arguing that accepting a few hundred refugees from Syria is not important because it is a drop in the bucket, is an outrageous statement made by Jussi Halla-aho, Vesa-Matti Saarakkala and others. The other point they are trying to drive home, that these people will be a burden on Finland, exposes their loathing and ignorance.
Read on »How Syrian refugees fleeing war show how the Finnish media gives (again) racists inflated respectability and importance
Migrant Tales published a while back a story about how the media gives racists and radical anti-immigration groups inflated respectability and importance. Why should we care what a Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP like Jussi Halla-aho, who was on top of it convicted for ethnic agitation, thinks about giving asylum to Syrian refugees? Verkkouutiset is run by the
Read on »How tabloids like Ilta-Sanomat reinforce our prejudices against immigrants and refugees
Tabloids like Ilta-Sanomat have a lot to learn about fairness, which is the cornerstone of all good news reporting. But tabloids aren’t interested in fairness but in sensationalism. A story by Ilta-Sanomat is headlined: ”Two Somalis use [fake] Yemeni passports to travel to Finland.” Even if the story suggests that these Somalis are committing a crime
Read on »Edward Snowden would help to put to rest Finland’s Cold War legacy
Wikileaks said in a statement that whistleblower Edward Snowden had asked for political asylum in twenty-one countries, one of which included Finland. Understanding Finland’s history and its historic suspicion of foreigners, granting a high-profile asylum seeker like Snowden asylum in Finland would not only help to put to rest for good our poor record but have
Read on »women for refugee women: the everyday sexism project
The Everyday Sexism Project exists to catalogue instances of sexism experienced by women on a day to day basis. For women refugees, uprooted in another country, or displaced within their own country, these experiences of sexism are often extreme and can be life threatening. According to the UN, there are approximately 40 million women and
Read on »Zuzeeko’s blog: Ask Finland’s Minister of Interior to stop detention of innocent children
Zuzeeko Tegha Abeng The International Convention on the Rights of the Child – to which Finland is party – outlaws the detention of children, unless as a last resort and for the shortest possible time (see article 37[b]) and obligates States Parties to ensure that a child seeking asylum receives appropriate protection and assistance (see Article 22).
Read on »Migrant Tales Literary with Le monde n’est pas: Around Europe by Miguel Velayos
Comment: I came across this neat website on Twitter called Le monde n’est pas rond (The world is not round). The website describes itself as “an international artistic newspaper, based in Luxembourg, that explores the contemporary realities of migration, borders, and human rights through the publication of articles, art and illustration, photography, prose and poetry.” Why not
Read on »Migrant Tales literary: How high must a wall be to contain hope?
Dedicated to the EU and Donald Trump By Leo Honka No wall can contain hope. It’s a fact but go and build your high wall To hide the destruction you’ve reaped: pillaging riches, pillaging hope leaving people and whole nations devastated, without future. Source: Westmonster. Now we’re knocking on your door With a sentence in
Read on »ELTbites: What you can and can’t say in class
By Richard Gresswell This blog post is kind of a follow on from the previous one inspired by the film ‘Blackboards’. Watching it again brought back memories of the many Kurdish students I’ve had the pleasure of teaching during my time as an ESOL tutor. I want to tell you a story about one of
Read on »Women for Refugee Women: ‘The dream I hope and strive for’
Helen came to the UK 9 years ago after she was imprisoned in Ethiopia for her political activities. She claimed asylum but was refused, and looks after herself and her three children on £50 a week. I’ve been in the UK since 2003. I have three children aged one, two and four. Things have got
Read on »How much further? A film about the lives of refugees in Greece
This documentary about refugees in Greece is a stark reminder of how Greek authorities and the European Union have turned their backs on asylum seekers and undocumented immigrants. The answer is not higher border fences or fear-mongering by politicians, but finding proactive solutions that take into account the needs and human rights of these people.
Read on »Greece and its bad case of ethnic profiling and scapegoating
The Greek Police announced that 16,836 foreign nationals were brought for questioning during the first month that Xenios Zeus was instigated, according to the European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE). A staggering 80% of those brought in for questioning were legal residents. Only 2,144 held by the police didn’t have their residence permits in
Read on »Amnesty International Annual Report 2012 criticizes Finland for accelerated asylum procedures
Amnesty International (AI) has criticized Finland in its Annual Report 2012 for accelerated asylum procedures, which include forced returns to Baghdad, according to YLE. The report noted as well that Finland was unable to provide figures on how many irregular migrants and asylum-seekers it detained during the year. AI reports: “However, there were concerns that
Read on »Finland’s cold war era: media censorship and suspicion of the outside world
How much did censorship and self-censorship affect Finland during the cold war? The answer to that question lies in the dusty archives of Finland’s media. What kinds of editorials did Helsingin Sanomat write about the Hungarian uprising of 1956 and what did our major dailies say about what happened in Czechoslovakia in 1968? What kind of press freedom was there in a country were discussing, never mind questioning, the official foreign policy line was forbidden?
Read on »Ilta-Sanomat tabloid ad (lööppi) from July 21, 1993
Migrant Tales publishes on and off Finnish tabloid ads* (lööppi in Finnish) from the 1990s. Taking into account that Finland’s immigrant population started to grow during that decade, it is easy at least through some of the main stories of tabloids like Ilta-Sanomat and Iltalehti to see how some of them reflected our xenophobic and racist views.
Read on »Ilta-Sanomat tabloid ad (lööppi) from October 5, 1992
Migrant Tales will begin to publish Finnish tabloid ads* (lööppi in Finnish) from the 1990s. Taking into account that Finland’s immigrant population started to grow during that decade, it is easy at least through some of the main stories of tabloids like Ilta-Sanomat and Iltalehti to see how some of them reflected our xenophobic and racist views.
Read on »Ilta-Sanomat tabloid ad (lööppi) from September 21, 1992
Migrant Tales will begin to publish Finnish tabloid ads* (lööppi in Finnish) from the 1990s. Taking into account that Finland’s immigrant population started to grow during that decade, it is easy at least through the main stories of tabloids like Ilta-Sanomat and Iltalehti to see how some of them reflected our xenophobic and racist views.
Read on »Soviet refugees in Finland: No escape to freedom
I met Aleksander Shatravka in 2009 thanks to Migrant Tales. Finally after over twenty years searching as a journalist for such a person. He was one of twelve former Soviet citizens documented by Amnesty International who was forcibly returned to the USSR.
Read on »Stateless persons do not have the right to open a bank account in Finland
Here is a pretty odd case that I encountered Monday when I went to Nordea bank in Mikkeli to open an account for a stateless person. After a few questions, the bank employee said that the person needs a valid passport to open an account at that bank. But if on that passport it reads “his/her identity cannot be confirmed,” the person can never open an account at Nordea.
Read on »Ilta-Sanomat tabloid ad (lööppi) from October 24, 1992
Migrant Tales will begin to publish Finnish tabloid ads* (lööppi in Finnish) from the 1990s. Taking into account that Finland’s immigrant population started to grow during that decade, it is easy at least through the main stories of tabloids like Ilta-Sanomat and Iltalehti to see how they reflected some people’s xenophobic and racist views.
Read on »UN and ECHR stop Finland from deporting torture victims
The European Court of Human Rights and the UN Committee against Torture have stopped the deportation of a number of asylum seekers in Finland in the last months, reports Helsingin Sanomat. Calls by different NGOs to the end to such deportations appears to have had an impact.
Read on »Karjalainen: Kuinka valheesta vähitellen tulee totuus
Viime viikonvaihteessa kokoomusnuoret valitsivat uuden puheenjohtajan. Maahanmuuttokriitikkona profiloitunut puheenjohtaja Wille Rydmania seurasi toinen maahanmuuttokriitikko eli Antti Häkkänen. Rydmanilla ei näyttänyt olevan mitään tätä leimaa vastaan.
Read on »Turun Sanomat: Osa turvapaikanhakijoista maksaa salakuljetuksensa sosiaalituella
Osa Suomeen salakuljetetuista turvapaikanhakijoista maksaa matkansa sosiaalituellaan. Viranomaisilla on runsaasti viitteitä salakuljetuksen ostamisesta velaksi. – Tutkimuksissa on selvinnyt, että rahamaksuja välitetään lähtömaihin. Heti kun turvapaikanhakija saa toimeentulotukea, hän lähettää säännöllisesti rahaa Western Unionin tai Forexin kautta kotimaahansa, Länsi-Suomen merivartioston rikostorjuntayksikön tutkinnanjohtaja Matti Hägerström kertoo.
Read on »Aviisi: Lopullinen totuus: Turvapaikanhakijoista pitäisi järjestää kansanäänestys
Turvapaikanhakijat tulevat vaikeista oloista. Monet ovat menettäneet kotinsa, perheensä, kokeneet kidutusta ja kohdanneet kuolemaa, sekä mahdollisesti tulleet raiskatuksi. Heidän ongelmansa ovat erityislaatuisia.
Read on »Dear Anti-Immigration groups
My great grandfather was a refugee from Italy. I admire and respect him so much that I gave one of my sons his first name. I have lived in many countries as an immigrant and I am proud of this as well.
Read on »What racism means to me
For me, racism, like indifference, is the worst social ill that inflicts our societies. Because racism has to survive and because racism is astute, it has found many ingenious ways of hiding its snister self and motives.
Read on »IOM: World Migration Report 2010
The World Migration Report 2010 (WMR 2010) will be the fifth in IOM’s series of biennial reports on international migration. Like the World Migration Reports that have preceded it, it is intended to contribute to the mission of the International Organization of Migration (IOM) to promote ‘humane and orderly policies in the movement of persons across borders’. Specifically, its aim is to promote a focus on building capacities to enable states and other stakeholders to respond to and plan for migration effectively and in a sustainable way.
Read on »EDITORIAL: Has racism inflicted Finland?
Taking into account the underwhelming size of the immigrant and refugee community, what have we done wrong and why are we the focus of daily insults, racism and abuse? Even the Social Democrats, the party that has championed for the rights of the working man, has aligned itself close to the True Finns in immigration policy.
Read on »The role of the Finnish social welfare state and newcomers
It is surprising that one can hear these days in private conversation from some teachers and people working with immigrants and refugees that some national groups should never be brought to this country because they will never adapt to our way of life. “Why do they continue to bring them here?” some say.
Read on »Finland also locks up asylum seeker children
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- A child in the Joutseno Immigration Removal Center.
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