ANNUAL POLICY REPORT 2009

Transcription

1 Riikka Asa and Mirkka Kivilehto ANNUAL POLICY REPORT 2009 Helsinki, Finland 2009

2 INDEX Executive Summary GENERAL STRUCTURE OF POLITICAL AND LEGAL SYSTEM IN FINLAND General Structure of the Political System and Institutional Context General Structure of the Legal System in the Area of Migration and Asylum POLITICAL; POLICY AND LEGISLATIVE; AND INSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENTS General Political Developments in Main Policy and Legislative Debates in Institutional developments in SPECIFIC DEVELOPMENTS IN ASYLUM AND MIGRATION Control and Monitoring of Immigration European Pact on Immigration and Asylum Additional/Complementary developments Refugee Protection and Asylum European Pact on Immigration and Asylum Additional/Complementary developments Unaccompanied Minors (and other vulnerable groups) European Pact on Immigration and Asylum Additional/Complementary developments Economic Migration European Pact on Immigration and Asylum Additional/Complementary developments Family Reunification European Pact on Immigration and Asylum Additional/Complementary developments Other legal migration European Pact on Immigration and Asylum Additional developments Integration European Pact on Immigration and Asylum Additional/Complementary developments Citizenship and Naturalisation European Pact on Immigration and Asylum Additional/Complementary developments Illegal immigration European Pact on Immigration and Asylum Additional/Complementary developments Actions against human trafficking European Pact on Immigration and Asylum Additional/Complementary developments Return Migration European Pact on Immigration and Asylum External relations/ Global Approach European Pact on Immigration and Asylum Additional/Complementary developments IMPLEMENTATION OF EU LEGISLATION Transposition of EU legislation Experiences, debates in the (non-) implementation of EU legislation Annex Methodology, terms and definitions A1.1 Methodology A1.2 Terms and Definitions

3 Executive Summary This is the 2009 Annual Policy Report 1 of the Finnish National contact point for the European Migration Network. The report gives an insight into the most significant political and legislative developments, as well as public debates in the area of migration and asylum. The reference period of the report is from 1st of January 2009 to 31st of December A significant element was added to the Annual Policy Report this year while the EMN became one of the parties to contribute to the tracking method of the European Pact on Immigration and asylum. The specifications as such were based on the assessment of previous report and on the lessons learned from drafting the previous reports. This EMN Annual Policy Report will still provide an insight into the most significant political and legislative developments as well as public debates in the area of migration and asylum, but the format is changed from the previous ones to meet also the requirements of the méthode de suivi. 2 The EMN Annual Policy report has two objectives. Firstly, the report aims to cover nation-specific significant developments (political, legal administrative, public debates) in the area of migration. Secondly, the report will document the state of implementation of EU legislation and the impact European policy developments at national level. Developments specifically related to the commitments in the Pact are reported in separate subsections in order to facilitate the production of the Commission s Annual Report. The report also covers experiences of implementation of EU-legislation, concern and criticism of public through media as well as tentative statistical data identifying trends on migration and asylum. During 2009 several law amendments and projects took place in order to implement EU-legislation into national law. Council Directive 2004/83/EC was transposed into Aliens Act on 9th of June The scope of granting subsidiary protection was narrowed to meet the definition of subsidiary protection in the Directive. At the same time, a new, third protection category (humanitarian protection) was introduced to retain the level of protection granted in Finland. New amendments were introduced to Nationality Act in order to ease the naturalisation process particularly for students and graduates. The Act on the Integration of Immigrants and Reception of Asylum Seekers is also under revision the law should be amended to meet the requirements of modern multicultural society and various forms of immigration. New pilot programme was launched to develop new and innovative ways of employing immigrants and supporting their integration. Further, the Ministry of Justice has set up a committee to reform anti-discrimination legislation in Finland. Furthermore, in the context of this reform, the roles, duties and powers of the authorities currently dealing with discrimination issues will be reviewed as appropriate was a difficult year of economic recession, which had a clear impact on migration. As the figures issued by Statistics Finland show, a total of 224,000 people were unemployed in November The unemployment rate now stands at 8.5 percent. This is 2.5 percentage points higher than a year before. 3 Consequently labour migration statistics show a diminishing trend for the number of applications for first residence permit. In January-August the overall number of residence permit applications was 14% lower than previous year during same period. This was mainly due to the significant decrease in the number of applications for residence permit for an employed person. The portion of rejected decisions as a whole has risen from 10% up to 25.2%. On the contrary, according to preliminary statistical data, the economic crisis of does not appear to have effected student applications. The number of residence permits granted is nearly equal to last year s figures. Significant institutional development was completed in 2009 while The Reform Project for Regional State Administration (ALKU) phased out all state provincial offices, employment and economic centres, regional environmental centres, environmental permit agencies, road districts and occupational health and safety districts. Their tasks were reorganised into two new regional state administrative bodies The Regional State Administrative Agencies (AVI) and the Centres for Economic Development, Transport and Environment (ELY). Also the administrative structure of the Police reformed in At the first phase the number of police districts was reduced from 90 to 24. From 2010 onwards the steering of reception centres as well as the accommodation of asylum seekers is the Finnish Immigration Service s responsibility as the law amendments came into force at the end of Important legal notice: all information and graphics in this report are protected in accordance with the Finnish Copyright Act. Information in this report can be used without express permission but the source must always be acknowledged. Material may only be used in accor dance with legislation and good practice 2 The Commission Communication (COM (2009) 266) on the méthode de suivi (or tracking method ) for monitoring the implementation of the European Pact on Immigration and Asylum

4 1. GENERAL STRUCTURE OF POLITICAL AND LEGAL SYSTEM IN FINLAND 1.1. General Structure of the Political System and Institutional Context 5 The Finnish Government directs immigration policy and its administration following the targets set in the Government Programme 6 and approved Government Resolutions. The Ministry of the Interior 7, through the Migration Department, is in charge of the migration issues. Its tasks are preparing policy and legislation, supervising the activities of the Finnish Immigration Service and taking part in international, EU and national co-operation in the field of migration and asylum. The Office of the Council of State is in charge of the co-ordination of EU issues in general. In accordance with the Government Programme, the Ministry of the Interior pursues an active, comprehensive and consistent immigration policy that takes full account of labour needs, immigrants many different reasons for seeking entry, and Finland s international responsibilities. The Minister of Migration and European Affairs 8, Astrid Thors, affirms the main focuses, lines of operation and targeted results of operations as elements in the overall operational and financial plan for the administration of internal affairs. Appropriations for the immigration administration are included in the Ministry of the Interior s budget proposal. The Finnish Immigration Service 9 (MIGRI) deals with and resolves matters related to the entry of individual foreigners into Finland, residence, deportation, refugee status and citizenship. In practice, the Finnish Immigration Service grants residence permits to foreigners and processes applications for asylum from investigation to decision-making. It grants aliens passports and travel documents for refugees and decides on refusals of entry and deportation. MIGRI is also in charge of naturalisation applications, declarations concerning Finnish citizenship, and definition of citizenship status as well as the maintenance of the register of aliens. It provides information services for international needs and domestic decision-makers and authorities and participates in international co-operation in its field of operation. MIGRI established its Advisory Board in The Ministry of the Interior directs the Finnish Immigration Service and the Employment and Economic Development Centres 10, which carry regional responsibility for immigration and integration matters. The individual municipalities bear general and coordinative responsibility for the development, planning and monitoring of immigrant integration. They also arrange for measures to promote and support integration and for immigrant services. The Ministry of Employment and the Economy and the Ministry of the Interior are jointly responsible for monitoring the volume and structure of work-related immigration and for developing monitoring methods. 13 The employment offices work with the Employment and Economic Development Centres to arrange the necessary labour market policy measures and employment services for immigrants. The Ministry for Foreign Affairs 14 is responsible for visa policy. Finnish missions abroad grant visas and accept citizenship declarations and residence permit applications. The Ombudsman for Minorities 15 is an independent authority which supervises compliance with the prohibition of ethnic discrimination under the Non-Discrimination Act. The National Discrimination Tribunal 16 attached to the Ministry of Interior is also an independent body which examines cases of discrimination based on ethnicity. There is also the Advisory Board for Ethnic Relations (ETNO) 17 which is a broad-based expert body set up by the Finnish Government. Its purpose is to promote interaction between Finland s ethnic minorities and the authorities, NGOs and the political parties in Parliament. The Ministerial Working Group on Migration Policy discusses and decides on important migration policy issues e.g. allocation of the annual refugee quota. Its members are current Minister of Migration and European Affairs, Astrid Thors, Minister of the Interior, Anne Holmlund, Minister of Education, Henna Virkkunen, Minister of Health and Social Affairs, Paula Risikko, Minister of Labour, Tarja Cronberg, Minister of Economic Affairs, Mauri Pekkarinen, Minister of Public Administration and Local Government, Mari Kiviniemi and Minister of Foreign Trade and Development, Paavo Väyrynen. Applications for residence permits, January August 2009 and 2008 Grounds for the application Jan-Aug 2009 Jan-Aug 2008 change % Employment 2,801 5, Self-employment Finnish origin Studies 3,623 3,728-3 Other grounds *) 1,999 2, Family ties 5,253 5,019 5 TOTAL 14,127 16, Within the Ministry of the Interior, apart from the Migration Department, some aspects of immigration matters are also handled by the Border Guard 11 and the Police 12. In certain special cases, a Border Guard officer may decide whether to grant a visa at the border or to deny entry into Finland. Border Guard officers and the police also establish an asylum seeker s identity and route to Finland. The local police accept permit applications in immigration matters, and citizenship applications and declarations; in certain cases they grant resident permits and returnee visas, extend visas and take decisions on denial of entry. In the case of EU citizens and their family members, they also carry out the registration required under the Aliens Act and issue temporary residence cards. *) In most cases employment: applications/decisions in this group concern persons who are entitled to take up employment on a basis other than a residence permit for an employed person 1.2. General Structure of the Legal System in the Area of Migration and Asylum The most relevant laws in the area of the organisation of authorities in migration and asylum issues are the Finnish Constitution, Aliens Act (301/2004), Nationality Act (359/2003), Act on the Integration of Immigrants and Reception of Asylum Seekers (493/1999), Non-Discrimination Act (21/2004), Administrative Procedure Act (434/2003) and Administrative Judicial Procedure Act (586/1996). 5 For further information, the Finnish national contact point for EMN has completed the National Report on the Organisation of Asylum and Migration Policies in Finland in the end of According to the programme of Prime Minister Vanhanen s second Government, the objective in immigration is to develop an active, pervasive and coherent policy which takes into account both labour needs and the variety of starting points concerning immigrants, as well as international obligations The asylum procedure and the competencies of asylum institutions are governed by the Aliens Act of The Act provides grounds for granting international protection as well as other, non-protection related grounds for a residence permit, which must be considered during a single asylum procedure. The 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) have transposed into Finnish law. The government s asylum policy is committed to the full application of the 1951 Convention. The requirements for granting asylum under the Aliens Act are identical to those in the 1951 Convention

5 2. POLITICAL; POLICY AND LEGISLATIVE; AND INSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENTS 2.1. General Political Developments in 2009 In 2009, no elections were held in regional or national levels. Neither significant new appointments of Minister were held. During the last few years the concept of multiculturalism has anchored itself in the speech of Finnish politicians and media. Multiculturalism is an ideology that has on one hand gained a lot of support from some parties and, on the other hand, received a lot of criticism in itself. In the discussion of academics different views have been expressed; how multiculturalism enriches the Finnish culture and way of life or, as opposite; how multiculturalism threatens the inner coherency of our nation. In 2008 and 2009 the concept of immigration criticism was rooted in the public discussion as the discussion about immigration and multiculturalism politicised. Until now the discussion concerning immigration has been suppressed, and only during the last few years, when the number of immigrants applying residence permits has grown rapidly, the wider society has taken its stand on this issue. In 2009, the issue that shook up the Finnish Parliament and detracted media s attention from other political topics, such as immigration, was election funding. The Finnish Parliament entered in a political crisis in the end of the summer 2009 when questions of alleged misdemeanours in election funding were revealed. There have been claims of possible abuses in a charitable foundation close to the Centre Party, and that Social Democratic Party candidates have received election funding from foundations in violation of the foundations own rules. On the 6 th of March 2008, the Ministry of Interior set up a project and a working group until the end of the year 2009, which aims at structural development of the administrative branch of the Ministry of Interior. The aim is that the structure of the migration administration promotes the realisation of active, comprehensive and consistent migration policy. One of the tasks of this working group is to go through a report of the Special Rapporteur, Ambassador Ole Norrback, 18 concerning the improvement of the actions of migration administration and the Finnish Immigration Service and to plan the implementation of the proposals it makes Main Policy and Legislative Debates in 2009 Lately, the public discussion concerning immigration to Finland has snowballed in politics, civil society and media. Some academics say that the Finnish society has been quiet about these topics for a long time. Now, as foreigners have become more and more growing and visible part of our society, the discussion on immigration has risen and become more politicised than ever. According to the Finnish Immigration Service s media survey from the time period January the 1st July the 7th 2009, most of the articles on migration policy in the most common Finnish media dealt with asylum policy, statistics and the growing number of asylum seekers. Also, the reception of the asylum seekers, unaccompanied minors and the age assessment were discussed. One major topic was the deportation of illegally residing people, especially the deportation of elderly family members of foreign nationals living in Finland. A topic related to this, which was also discussed in the media, was the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland giving asylum for some illegally residing people, who were not granted asylum. The amendments in the Aliens Act and Nationality Act were discussed as well. Other topics of interest in the media were the migration policy in general, resources allocated to managing migration and asylum matters, asylum seekers placement in the Finnish municipalities, illegal entry into the country, the Finnish Immigration Service, the handling times and various procedures in connection with the application processes, work-related immigration, integration, family reunification and the general attitudes towards migration. According to the media survey from the reference period, 393 articles dealing with migration were published in the Finnish daily media. According to the statistics of the Meltwater News media survey, 859 articles dealing with migration were published in 24 days in the Finnish media during November and December This makes an average of 36 articles per day. 45 % of the articles dealt with issues related to international protection, 20% with resident permits, 10 % with reception of asylum seekers, 8 % with deportation and 8 % with the Finnish Immigration Service. Other topics were the legislation on foreigners and nationality. 18 Norrback, Ole Maahanmuuttohallinnon ja Maahanmuuttoviraston toiminnan kehittäminen ; Report of the Special Rapporteur; Publications of the Ministry of the Interior 15/2008; The Ministry of the Interior; Helsinki; For more information on this, see the Finnish Annual Policy Report Migration and asylum issues have been on the rise in the Finnish media during The debates aroused by the parliamentary elections in 2008, in which the populist right-wing True Finns party that ran candidates with strong views on restricting immigration gained higher number of votes than ever, continued in Articles concerning immigration and asylum procedures and the integration of foreigners have been very common in the Finnish media. In 2009, there were cases concerning the migration policy that aroused the media s attention. Jussi Hallaaho, an independent member of the Helsinki City Council elected to the council on the True Finns ticket, scored a major victory in the municipal elections in 2008, campaigning on a platform that sought to expose failings in Finland s immigration policies and the way immigrants are integrated into Finnish society. Hallaaho was charged with ethnic agitation and blasphemy. The charges stem from blog posts he wrote in 2008 where he claimed Islam is a religion of institutionalized paedophilia and that laziness and welfare sponging are racial characteristics of the Somali people. Helsinki District Court convicted him of violation of the sanctity of religion, and fined him 330 euros. The charges of incitement against an ethnic group were dismissed by the court. Halla-aho plans to appeal the decision by the Helsinki District Court.20 In the summer of 2009, news about a new party critical of immigration being founded in Finland appeared in the media. The birth place of the party was the immigration-critical Homma forum 21, an internet site launched to discuss immigration and the right to freedom of speech in Finland. The name of the new party will be Muutos Förändring 2011 in Swedish. The immigration-critical Homma association s next step is to collect the required 5000 names of supporters to be able to register as a party in Finland. Their main initial goal is to succeed in the 2011 parliamentary elections. The association s other key objectives are to increase direct democracy and immigration reform, meaning reduction in economic migrants. The party wants that immigration issues are to be decided by direct popular vote. The leader of the association, Mr. Mäki-Ketelä, believes that the new movement will attract especially those True Finns party members that are critical of the Finnish immigration policies. He also suggests that the new party has been inspired by recent events such as election financing problems, and, especially, the attack on free [blog] speech by the Finnish government and by the charges against Helsinki City councilman, Mr. Halla-Aho, for his Somali Muslim critical internet writings. On their web pages 22 the party announces its lack of faith in the capability of the current Minister of the Interior, Anne Holmlund, and demands her resignation. No major hunger strikes or demonstrations concerning immigration issues occurred in Two smaller demonstrations were held by immigrants in different localities. One demonstration occurred in September 2009 in the south eastern town of Imatra in front of the local police station. Dozens of persons demonstrated against the decision to deport Iraqi and Kurdish refugees back to Iraq. Omar Bahaaldin, the president of the Finnish branch of the International Iraq Refugee Federation, said that Iraq is in a state of war and is not a safe place to return. The organisation is to hold demonstrations also in the future in other places. In September 2009, approximately 200 persons of Kurdish background demonstrated three days against the arrest of two Kurds in front of the city police department of Itä-Uusimaa in the city of Vantaa. The demonstrators insisted on releasing the two arrested persons. The Central Bureau of Investigation has a fund-raising crime to resolve, for which reason the district court arrested these persons. According to the demonstrators, the arrested were fund-raising for the activities of the Cultural Centre of Kurds. The aim of the Cultural Centre is, for example, to organize concerts

6 Furthermore, there has been a lot of public discussion about deportations, particularly when it concerns elderly people and children. Cases, in which an elderly relative of an immigrant family living in Finland has received a decision of deportation, have been debated in the Finnish media. According to the Finnish Aliens Act, the spouse of a person residing in Finland, and unmarried children under 18 years of age over whom the person residing in Finland or his or her spouse had guardianship, are considered family members. The Finnish concept of a nuclear family is more limited than in some other cultures. In some such cases of deportation, the asylum seekers have been seeking asylum from the local church. Regarding this issue, the Minister of Migration and European Affairs stated in her speech in the EMN Seminar in Helsinki in July that the Minister of Migration has no possibility to interfere with the decisions on individual cases made in the Finnish Immigration Service. On the very last day of 2009 a total of six people died in connection with a shooting rampage at the Sello shopping mall in Espoo. The suspected shooter was Kosovo-born long-time resident of Finland. In the aftermath of the incident Minister Anne Holmlund proposed that terms for granting residence permits for foreigners who have been convicted of crimes to be made tougher. Holmlund said in a YLE interview that residence permits should not be automatically extended in cases where application for citizenship has been rejected. Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen and Minister Anne Holmlund regarded provisions on deportation too loose since the shooter was allowed to stay in Finland despite of the crimes he had convicted. The immigration officials saw deportation of all foreign criminals unrealistic.23 In the area of legislation, the developments in the asylum policy were the following: The Government Bill concerning the implementation of the Qualification Directive was given in In 2008, the Parliament discussed the Bill. The fact that in transposing the directive, the scope of the current national legal provision for granting subsidiary protection was narrowed to meet the definition of subsidiary protection of the directive, caused discussion among the NGO s. However, in order to retain the level of protection granted in Finland, a new, third protection category (so-called humanitarian protection) was created. The new third protection category, so-called humanitarian protection, created to maintain the high level of protection, which includes the right to work, also much caused debate. Especially the True Finns Party was concerned about the new law and its openness to various interpretations. This discussion continued and the larger debates happened in the Parliament in Opinions varied between the concern of creating sections liable to unequal interpretations and the concern of narrowing the rights of a refugee. The Bill was adopted in February The changes in legislation came into force June the 1st On March the 31st 2009, the Ministry of the Interior initiated a project for reporting on asylum matters. In October 2009, the Ministerial Working Group on Migration Policy discussed the new amendments to Aliens Act made on the basis of the report on asylum policy.25 The amendment proposals concern for example age assessment, family reunification and the asylum seeker s right to work. The last mentioned proposal is that only those asylum seekers possessing a valid travel document entitled to border-crossing may start working three months after submitting an asylum application. Otherwise one could start working only after 6 months stay. The aim is to encourage the asylum seekers to reveal their real identity in the asylum process. Until now, an asylum seeker may start to work gainfully in Finland without a residence permit three months after submitting an asylum application. This right to work is granted to asylum seekers by law, and it is not subject to separate application. The above mentioned proposal has aroused a lot of criticism among the academics, civil society and the media. The claim is that this amendment would reduce asylum seeker s right to work and would make Finland a part of the grey economic zone. These critics viewpoint is that work is one of the best ways for the immigrants to integrate into the society.26 Furthermore, the subsistence allowance for asylum seekers in Finland is currently the highest in Europe, approximately 400 euros per month. The fact that this sum is much higher than in other EU countries in average, has raised astonishment and questions among the public of the subsistence allowance s role in unfounded applications as a pull factor. The subsistence allowance for asylum seekers and its pull effect was addressed to the Minister of Migration and European Affairs as a written question in the Finnish Parliament.27 Currently, as a part of the project for drafting a new act for the reception of asylum seekers, the significance of the subsistence allowance for the asylum seekers, and the option of substituting the monetary allowance with goods, will be determined Institutional developments in 2009 The Reform Project for Regional State Administration (ALKU) was launched in the summer of 2007 to make the roles, duties, steering and regional division of all regional state administrative authorities clearer. The reform, which draws on Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen s second Government Programme, aims to enhance the citizen and customer orientation of regional administration as well as to increase efficiency and productivity in its functions. The term of the project is from 29 June 2007 to 31 December All state provincial offices, employment and economic centres, regional environmental centres, environmental permit agencies, road districts and occupational health and safety districts will be phased out and their functions and tasks will be reorganized and streamlined into two new regional state administrative bodies: the Regional State Administrative Agencies (AVI) and the Centres for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment (ELY). There will be six Regional State Administrative Agencies and 15 Centres for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment that will all start operating on 1 January The new administrative structure will also form a backdrop for future changes in regional state administration. By bringing together regional development functions, the reform will enhance the executive powers of the regional councils as authorities in developing the regions.29 The Regional State Administrative Agencies foster regional parity by executing all legislative implementation, steering and supervision functions in the regions. The agencies strengthen implementation of basic rights and legal protection, access to basic public services, environmental protection, environmental sustainability, public safety and a safe and healthy living and working environment in the regions. The Centres for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment foster regional development by implementing and developing government activities in the regions. The centres promote entrepreneurship, labour market functioning, competence and cultural activities, ensure safe and smooth transport operations, a healthy environment and sustainable use of natural resources in the regions and are in charge of functions related to labour force immigration. The legislative proposals on reforms in regional administration endorsed by Government were presented to Parliament in April 2009 and are being deliberated in Parliament. The legislative provisions are due to enter into force on 1 January The administration structure of the Police was taken under a reform as set in the Government Programme. The reform period was from November 2007 until the end of the year At the first stage, the police administrative structure was reformed by a reduction in the number of police districts from 90 to 24 at the beginning of At the second stage, the reform will also cover the Supreme Police Command, Provincial Police Commands, national police units and the Helsinki Police Department, and these changes will come into force in the beginning of With this project resources will be transferred from the administration level to the service level. One aim of this project is to find out if the Ministry s direction and policing tasks will be separated from the operative conduction of the Police. These possible changes will have an effect on the migration and asylum organisation in the competence area of the Police See and Report on Asylum Policy: Näkökulmia turvapaikkapolitiikkaan Kehitysehdotuksia ja pohjoismaista vertailua, Publications of the Ministry of the Interior 21/ vapaikkapolitiikkaan_ pdf.pdf, See See

7 In 2008, responsibility for the reception centres was transferred from the Ministry of Labour to the Ministry of the Interior according to the Government Programme. Even though on the national level the reception centres are under the authority of the Ministry of the Interior, on the municipal level their functions are currently supervised by the Employment and Economic Development. A further development in this area during 2008 and 2009 was that a Government Bill was made to transfer the supervision of the reception centres in its totality to the Finnish Immigration Service (MIGRI) to create a more transparent and unified system under one Ministry. The Government Bill 78/2009 was given to the Parliament in May This development aims to ensure a more unified quality for the treatment of customers. This was one of the suggestions made in the report by the special rapporteur for the Ministry of Interior s development project on developing migration administration and the function of MIGRI. Consequently, the planning for necessary practical arrangements to give MIGRI the required competence in the practical steering of reception centres, and for the placement of asylum-seekers in reception centres or private accommodation continued in This transfer of responsibilities is took place at the end of The amendments of the Act on the Finnish Immigration Service (156/1995) 32, Act on the Integration of Immigrants and Reception of Asylum Seekers (493/1999) 33 and the Act on the Treatment of Aliens Taken into Detention and on the Detention Unit 34 will come into force in the end of 2009 or at least at the same time with the reform of State Regional Administration. 35 In October 2009, the Minister of Migration and European Affairs started a project to draft an act for the reception of asylum seekers. Until now the reception of asylum seekers has been enacted in the Act on the Integration of Immigrants and Reception of Asylum Seekers (493/1999) 36. During the reform of the Act on the Integration of Immigrants 37, it was taken into account that it is not appropriate to enact the integration and reception in the same act. Hence, a new act on the reception of asylum seekers will be enacted 38. At the same time all the necessary amendments to the Act on the Treatment of Aliens Taken into Detention and on the Detention Unit will be made. In March 2008, the Ministry of the Interior appointed a project for investigating the treatment of aliens placed in detention under the Aliens, the operations of detention units and the requirements and procedures relating to detention. The project was carried out in two phases. The objective of the first phase was to establish and assess the treatment of aliens placed in detention units founded under the Act on the Treatment of Aliens Placed in Detention and on Detention Units (116/2002). Particular focus was on the requirements for placement in detention and treatment of vulnerable groups such as minors. The due date for the project report was extended until spring These amendments would be one part of the transfer of the steering and planning of the reception of asylum seekers under the Immigration Service. The aim is to leave this draft to the parliament together with the draft of the new Integration Act in the beginning of SPECIFIC DEVELOPMENTS IN ASYLUM AND MIGRATION 3.1. Control and Monitoring of Immigration European Pact on Immigration and Asylum The relevant commitments in the Pact for this sub-section are in particular: III(a) more effective control of the external land, sea and air borders In the long-term cross-border traffic across the external border is constantly increasing at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport and at the major border crossing points in southeast Finland. Keeping the quality of border checks at least at the present level and above all improving them require a comprehensive redevelopment of bordercheck arrangements. The focus must be on developing and introducing new methods to ensure the quality and smooth flow of border checks. At the same time, a sufficient and appropriate infrastructure must be ensured. The infrastructure, personnel resources and technical equipment of international border crossing points have been and are being developed to meet the demands of increased traffic volume and security risks. The quality and smooth flow of border checks will be ensured by developing border check methods and introducing new ones. National and international cooperation between the authorities, especially on the major international BCP s, will be taken into account in implementing operating goals. The guiding principle in the improvement of equipment, operating procedures, systems, tools and training will be compatibility to enable national and international joint operations. Measures have been taken to ensure that border checks comply with the requirements although the volume of traffic is increasing at international border crossing points. The quality and smooth flow of border checks is ensured by developing border check methods and introducing new ones. Measures have been taken to ensure a sufficient infrastructure at border crossing points. Searching and reporting software, particularly profiling, will be introduced in border checks. Cooperation between authorities will be enhanced. The main goal of the Finnish Border Guard is to maintain stabile security situation at the external borders. Particular attention is paid to functional and secure eastern border. At the eastern border is maintained reliable and need basis border surveillance defined by relevant risk analysis. Emphasis is put to developing coverage of surveillance, mobility, technical surveillance systems and usage of air assets. Air assets are developed by acquiring new one motored helicopters for land border surveillance. At maritime domain focus is put for surveillance in the Finnish Gulf area. Capability of maritime surveillance is enhanced by purchasing patrol boats, an offshore patrol vessel and by modifying surveillance equipment. The national legislation, Border Guard Act is currently being amended in this respect. 31 Government Bill 78/2009: Hallituksen esitys eduskunnalle eräiden tehtävien siirtämistä Maahanmuuttovirastoon koskevaksi lainsäädän nöksi (HE78/2009), Act on the Finnish Immigration Service: Aliens Act: Act on the Treatment of Aliens Taken into Detention and on the Detention Unit: Act on the Integration of Immigrants and Reception of Asylum Seekers: See See The application of biometric identification in border checks will be maintained and developed according to EU instructions and recommendations, together with the national authorities. Travelling by EU citizens will be streamlined and developed structurally and technically at the EU s external borders as applicable. Automatic border checks fulfilling security criteria will be implemented for EU/EEA/CH citizens. The requirement for this is the introduction of the new biometric travel documents. This has been piloted in border checks at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport as from July Based on the experience gathered during the pilot phase, the system has been taken into operational use, starting in The Border Guard is preparing to put the system into full operational use also on the major external land border crossing points as from Measures will be taken to improve the exposure of forged travel documents used for criminal purposes or detected in border checks and of misuses of these documents. Biometric identifiers will help in this

8 The quality and accuracy of border checks onboard public transport will be maintained at a high level. Information transfer between the authorities along the Finnish portion of the rail network used by international rail transport will be improved in blind zones, or other communications networks will be employed to ensure online communication. The inspection equipment used at border crossing points will be developed for better identification of personal and document alerts and document verification. Electronic passenger manifests (API/PNR) received from transport operators in advance will be introduced. Technical surveillance systems at border crossing points will be improved, and the introduction of pattern-recognition software will be explored in order to make use of pictures in personal alerts by automatically scanning passengers to find matches as from Finland is actively participating in the discussions between the member states to pool resources, a goal also related to the new Visa Code. In Russia (Petrozavodsk, Murmansk), Finland has had visa projects in order to create Common Application Centres (CACs). In addition, co-locations have been used. As mentioned above, further practices have been developed in the framework of the Nordic Schengen pilot project. Finland will be working together with other Member States to enhance the use of CACs in other places. For example in Moldova, joint consular services have been set up, a possibility that has been taking notice of by Finland as well. Among others, cooperation will be further intensified within the Nordic Schengen pilot project, and elaborations with the Baltic States will continue. A possibility mentioned in the Visa Code, that is, the use of external service providers, may be an alternative when working towards the common commitments. III(e) deploy modern technological means for border control: III(b) generalise the issue of biometric visas, improve cooperation between MSs consulates and set up joint consular services for visas: Finland has been developing VIS at the national level according to the common schedule of the EU, and hence the compliance tests were successfully passed in July. (Finland has been developing a national Suvi 2.0 system, including biometric provisions, to be used in the meantime before VIS will be launched.) The application of biometric identification in border checks will be maintained and developed according to EU legislation and recommendations, together with the national authorities. The future implementation and impact of the entry/exit -system and Registered Traveller Programme are taken into account in the Finnish Border Guard s strategy on automated border checks High level of operational capability to issue visas at the external border crossing points has been maintained and secured. Acquiring and introducing an automatic border control system for EU/EEA/CH citizens at the key border crossing points. The objective of the actions related to the controlled introduction of the VIS is to develop and introduce the VIS on schedule for the efficient implementation of the common visa policy and for achieving its aims. Planning and the possible testing of a self-service system for people required to have a visa together with the supplier, by making use of the Entry Card File database (border crossing data) and the C.VIS. Finland will be developing the national VIS system, including biometric provisions, according to the common schedule of the EU. Moreover, Finland will be starting the roll-out of VIS in North Africa according to the rollout schedule. The testing, procurement and introduction of fingerprint comparison and recording devices simultaneously with the introduction of the European Central Visa Information System (C.VIS) in accordance with the transition timetable. Developing, as a joint project between authorities, an operating model and equipment for carrying out checks onboard fast-moving trains. The task of the working group is to create and approve a communication channel between portable document reading devices and databases by making use of the possible authority network or secure public network; this would make it possible to search and enter information in public authority databases in real time. New equipment will be acquired for the units checking the authenticity of travel documents. Finland is actively participating in the coordination and cooperation efforts of Member States consulates at the local level. When it comes to visa representations, another Schengen country is representing Finland in 57 places, and Finland is representing another Schengen country in 16 places. Cooperation is especially intensive between the Nordic Countries. The purpose of the liaison officers network in the four-tier access control model is to combat illegal entry and other cross-border crime proactively in cooperation with the consular authorities, transport operators and other national and international authorities. The liaison officers of the Border Guard liaise with various bodies and organisations related to airborne cross-border traffic, such as ground handling services, airline security and reception staff, local law enforcement authorities and, naturally, the ILO/ALO network and their home organisation. Finland will be developing cooperation in visa issues in accordance with the common policies. For example, in the framework of the Nordic cooperation, systems of information exchange (including secure electronic data transfer) and common training will be further enhanced. The aim is to safeguard the present liaison officer system. In addition, preparations will be made, where necessary, to appoint new liaison officers. The work of liaison officers supports the work of all national authorities (Police, Customs, Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Finnish Immigration Service) and other Member States. III(f) intensify cooperation with the countries of origin and of transit in order to strengthen border control The Finnish Border Guard has had decade s pragmatic and practical cooperation with Russian Border Guard Service. Cooperation is organised at central, regional and local level, and it is based on agreement between Governments of Finland and Russia. The core of the cooperation is Border Delegate system. The Finnish Border guard has given training support to border authorities in inter alia Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Turkey and Tajikistan. Finnish border guard has participated to arranging study visits to Finland for third countries border authorities as well. Within the framework of Twinning, Finland has launched a project to support Turkey to set up a risk management models for Turkish IBM in the light of EU best practices. Finland also has launched cooperation with Lebanese authorities within an EU-funded project (ran by Denmark and Germany) to set up EU-standards based border management system