The parliament in Finland has approved a bill that would allow its border guards to turn back illegal migrants from Russia without considering their demands for asylum.
In response to the “hybrid warfare” tactic by Moscow of sending migrants to its border, the Eduskunta parliament in Helsinki overwhelmingly backed emergency provisions — valid for at least one year — to allow for the pushback of illegals.
The measure was passed on Friday by a margin of 167 to just 31 opposed, according to the Helsinki Times.
The EU state and recently-minted NATO member has argued that rejecting waves of illegals at its 1,340-kilometer (830-mile) land border with Russia is a matter of “national security”, claiming that Moscow is using migrants as a means of destabilising their country in retaliation for their support of Ukraine.
The new law, which still needs to be approved by Finnish President Alexander Stubb, will allow immigration guards to turn migrants away at the border without considering their claims for asylum, except for children, disabled people, or those deemed at particular risk.
While rejected by the European Union, other EU nations, such as Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland, have put in place similar pushback measures to block migrants entering their country from Belarus, an ally of Russia that has faced similar accusations of using migrants in a “hybrid warfare” strategy.
Arguing for the necessity of the emergency law, Finnish Finance Minister Riikka Purra of the populist Finns Party said: “We cannot allow Russia to exploit weaknesses in our legislation and international agreements.”
The majority of attempted illegal crossings of the Finland-Russia border were reportedly not nationals from Russia but rather from Middle Eastern or African nations such as Afghanistan, Egypt, Iraq, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen.
The legislation in Finland has drawn the ire of pro-mass migration organisations, including Amnesty International, which described the move as giving a “green light for violence and pushbacks at the border”.
“This proposal would endanger the rights of people seeking safety and could lead to arbitrariness and violence at the border. Finland should reject this attack on its core constitutional values and the rule of law, and urgently restore conditions to manage borders humanely and in respect of its international obligations,” Director of Amnesty International’s European Institutions Office Eve Geddie said.
The leftist NGO argued that the legislation violates the recent European Union’s migrant pact and existing EU legislation.
The head of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex), Hans Leijtens previously said that migrant pushbacks are “forbidden” under EU law.
The border chief has also criticised the “superficial preoccupation with the issue” of illegal migration and said that officials should refrain from “alarmism” over illegals entering their countries.
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