Finnish lawmakers have approved a controversial bill that will allow border guards to turn away migrants from third countries arriving through neighboring Russia.
Finnish legislators approved this Friday a controversial bill which allows border guards to reject immigrants from third countries who try to enter from Russia.
The objective of the bill is to introduce temporary measures to stop the arrival of immigrants in the Nordic nation, in response to what Helsinki considers a “hybrid war” by Russian authorities.
His government claims that Moscow is directing undocumented migrants to the border between the two countries to orchestrate an influx of immigration.
The law would allow Finnish border guards reject asylum applications from immigrants in the border crossingsin certain circumstances.
However, supposedly, children will not be denied entryto disabled people or to any migrant that border guards consider to be in a particularly vulnerable situation.
A bill passed with a narrow margin of votes
The law is valid for one year and has been approved by 167 Finnish deputies. The minimum necessary for your approval in the Finnish Parliamentis two-thirds of its 200 seats.
The Finnish Prime Minister, Petteri Orpo, alluded to the National security to argue that the law was necessary to address the russian maneuvers of deliberately driving immigrants to the border, a heavily guarded area.
The measure has been met with controversy, as its detractors, including academics, jurists and human rights groups, claim that clashes with the Constitution of Finlandinternational rights commitments established by the United Nations and the promises to the EU signed by Finland.
The controversial bill worries European authorities
Michael O’Flaherty, Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, had previously expressed his concern about the bill and urged not to approve it.
Last year, Finland closed the 1,340 kilometers of its land border with Russiaafter more than 1,300 immigrants without documentation or visas They will enter the country in three months, only a few months after the Nordic nation joined NATO. Finland is the external border of the European Union in the north of the Old Continent.
