Finland approves controversial law to push back migrants at Russian border

This article was originally published in English

Finnish lawmakers narrowly approved a controversial bill on Friday that would allow border guards to turn back migrants trying to enter Finland from Russia.

The objective of this bill is tointroduce temporary measures to prevent migrants from entering the Nordic nation, in response to what Helsinki sees as “hybrid warfare” by Russia.

The Finnish government claims that Moscow is exploiting immigration at the border between the two countries.

Last year, shortly after the country joined NATO, Finland has closed its 1,340-kilometre land border with Russia after more than 1,300 migrants without papers or visas entered the country in the space of three months.

The new law will allow Finnish border guards to reject migrants’ asylum applications at crossing points under certain circumstances.

However, They will not be able to refuse entry to children, disabled people and any migrant considered by border guards to be in a particularly vulnerable situation..

A matter of national security, according to the Finnish government

The law, which was approved by 167 of Finland’s 200 lawmakers – the minimum required for its adoption – will be valid for one year.

Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo cited national security as the reason for the law, which he said would help better combat Russian maneuvers to deliberately direct migrants towards the border between the two countries.

The law’s adoption has sparked controversy among academics, legal experts and human rights groups, who consider that it is contrary to the Finnish Constitution, to international human rights commitments set out by the United Nations and to promises made by the European Union and signed by Finland.

Michael O’Flaherty, the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, had previously expressed concern about the bill and spoken out against its adoption.