Nota bene: the sources of this post are exclusively pages on the websites of official Finnish authorities.
Finland closed its land border crossing points with Russia in November 2023 after several hundred refugees attempted to cross the border: ‘Suomeen saapui elo-joulukuun 2023 välisenä aikana noin 1300 kolmannen maan kansalaista laittomasti ilman viisumia itärajan rajanylityspaikkojen kautta’ [1]. (Translation: ‘Between August and December 2023, around 1,300 third-country nationals entered Finland illegally without a visa via the eastern border crossing points’.)
How many people sought asylum
Let us refer to asylum statistics for previous years: ‘Vuonna 2015 turvapaikkaa haki 32 476 henkilöä, joista valtaosa saapui Suomeen syksyllä’. [2]. (Translation: ‘In 2015, 32,476 people applied for asylum, most of whom arrived in Finland in autumn’.)
‘Vuonna 2023 Suomessa jätettiin 5 372 turvapaikkahakakemusta, joista 813 oli uusintahakakemuksia’ [3]. (Translation: ‘In 2023, 5,372 asylum applications were lodged in Finland, of which 813 were repeat applications’.) That is, for the whole year 2023, 4,559 applications were filed, of which 1,300 were filed between August and December.
Who requested asylum
‘Vuonna 2023 eniten turvapaikkahakakemuksia jättivät somalialaiset, syyrialaiset, irakilaiset ja venäläiset’ [3]. (Translation: ‘In 2023, Somalis, Syrians, Iraqis and Russians were the main asylum seekers’.)
At the same time, in 2015, Iraqis were also a significant part of asylum seekers: ‘Näistä hakijoita suurin osa oli nuoria sunniarabimiehiä Irakista, Bagdadin alueelta’ [2]. (Translation: ‘Most of these applicants were young Sunni Arab men from Iraq, Baghdad region’.)
The Migration Service's statistics pages show that asylum seekers in 2015 had mostly Iraqi, Afghan, Somali and Syrian nationalities [4]. In 2023, the most common nationalities were Somalia, Syria, Iraq and Russia [5].
Responses
‘Erityisesti yksi syyskuun viikko jäi Maahanmuuttoviraston työntekijöille mieleen: viikolla 39 rekisteröitiin 3 939 turvapaikanhakijaa’ [2]. (Translation: ‘One week in September in particular stood out for Immigration staff: 3,939 asylum seekers were registered in week 39’.) As can be seen, three times as many asylum seekers arrived in one week alone in 2015 than in four months in 2023 (not to mention the total number of asylum seekers for 2015), but the border did not appear to be closed in 2015, unlike in 2023.
It is noteworthy that asylum seekers in 2015 arrived mainly through the Finnish-Swedish border: ‘Kaikkiaan Suomesta haki 2015 turvapaikkaa runsaat 32 000 henkeä, joista lähes 17 000 saapui maahan Haaparannan ja Tornion kautta’ [6]. (Translation: ‘In total, more than 32,000 people applied for asylum in Finland in 2015, of whom nearly 17,000 arrived via Haparanda and Tornio’.) Perhaps it was precisely because asylum seekers were coming to Finland from the right side rather than the wrong side that the border did not end up being closed then, ten years ago...?
Conclusions:
- It cannot be concluded that the national and/or religious portraits of asylum seekers differed in any significant way between 2015 and 2023.
- The number of asylum seekers in Finland in 2023 is an order of magnitude lower than in 2015, but the Finnish government's response differs dramatically, and to such an extent that one can conclude that the Finnish government's decision to close the land border crossing points with Russia is not characterised by an objective approach, but by a political motive.
Sources:
- Page on the website of the Finnish Ministry of the Interior on the state of the eastern border: https://intermin.fi/ajankohtaista/itarajan-tilanne. Wayback Machine version of the page from 07.01.2025: https://web.archive.org/web/20250107041557/https://intermin.fi/ajankohtaista/itarajan-tilanne
- Page on the website of the Finnish Immigration Service on asylum seekers in 2015: https://migri.fi/-/kaksi-vuotta-turvapaikanhakijasyksysta-2015-missa-mennaan-nyt-. Wayback Machine version of the page dated 06.11.2024: https://web.archive.org/web/20241106115556/https://migri.fi/-/kaksi-vuotta-turvapaikanhakijasyksysta-2015-missa-mennaan-nyt-
- Page on the website of the Labour Migration and Integration Unit of the Finnish Ministry of Labour and Economic Development: https://kotoutuminen.fi/turvapaikanhakijat Wayback Machine version of the page dated 02.03.2024: https://web.archive.org/web/20240302045035/https://kotoutuminen.fi/turvapaikanhakijat
- Statistics on the website of the Finnish Immigration Service for 2015: https://tilastot.migri.fi/index.html#applications/23330/49?start=540&end=551
- Statistics on the website of the Finnish Immigration Service for 2023: https://tilastot.migri.fi/index.html#applications/23330/49?start=636&end=647
- Page on the website of the municipality of Tornio: https://www.tornio.fi/blogi/tornion-vuosikymmenet-2010-luku-poikkeuksellisten-tapahtumien-vuosikymmen/. Page version at the Wayback Machine as of 03.11.2024: https://web.archive.org/web/20241103071750/https://www.tornio.fi/blogi/tornion-vuosikymmenet-2010-luku-poikkeuksellisten-tapahtumien-vuosikymmen/