Finland suspends decision on asylum claims by Iraqis, Somalis
Finland has temporarily frozen its decision-making on asylum applications from Iraqi and Somali citizens, citing a review of the security situation in the two violence-scarred countries.
In a statement released on Wednesday, the Finnish Immigration Service said the suspension of the asylum decisions is expected to last some weeks.
"The Finnish Immigration Service freezes its decision-making on Iraqi and Somali asylum claims for the time being. This is due to the ongoing assessment of the security situation in Iraq and Somalia," the statement read.
Finland’s guidelines for granting people asylum may “be made stricter" after the the review if it concludes that there has been an improvement in the security situation in parts of Iraq and Somalia, the statement added.
"Now it has already emerged that asylum seekers who come from, for example, [the Iraqi capital city of] Baghdad and surrounding regions and from [the Somali capital city of] Mogadishu are not granted protection automatically in other EU countries," it further read.
So far this year, more than 17,000 asylum seekers have reportedly arrived in Finland, a country of almost 5.5 million people on the edge of the Arctic.
The Finnish government has launched random border checks as well as identity checks amid a surge in the number of refugees traveling to the European country.
Earlier this month, Finland abstained from a vote about relocating 120,000 asylum seekers across the the European Union's member states. Helsinki only accepted its two-percent share of the asylum seekers in question.
Most of the asylum seekers who risk their lives to reach Europe are reportedly fleeing conflict-hit zones in Africa and the Middle East.
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