Stop Deportations and Cuts in Development Cooperation Funds

All around Europe asylum policy has tightened. As the far right gains support, other parties, even working-class parties, are drawn towards changing their policies into an anti-immigration direction. These intentions only lead to a dead end and to the abandonment of the workers’ cause.

As a part of this general European tendency, Juha Sipilä’s government has also tightened Finland’s immigration policies, which were already tight to begin with. The government gave up in face of the positions of the True Finns party and especially of its recently-elected leader Jussi Halla-aho. Conditions for family reunification were made extremely difficult, while negative decisions for asylum applications went through the roof.

The result of this inhumane policy is a growing number of undocumented people in Finland. They are a vulnerable target for employers’ exploitation and all sorts of racist attacks. Right-wing politicians also use them to divert the anger of the oppressed people away from policies conditioned by the interests of big business.

We Communists do not condone inhumane policies which lead to an aggravation of inequality. Workers must not be placed against each other, but protection and security must be granted to all those in need. Immigrants are to be blamed neither for the weakening of working conditions made in order to secure big business’ profits, nor the cuts in public services and EU-led austerity policies. This must be openly declared. We appeal to all left-wing parties to oppose this reactionary development. We have the duty and opportunity to do so, as long as we remember our roots, as long as we are class conscious, and as long as we work for the interests of the labouring class. The Communist Party of Finland urges for wide participation in the protests against deportations and invites immigrants to join the Party in the radical transformation of society.

Deportations to war-torn countries must stop. The Finnish Immigration Service must revise its security assessments for countries like Iraq or Afghanistan, among others. Finland must considerably raise its refugee quota. For instance, to 1050 refugees per year, the level to which the quota was raised back in 2014-2015 due to the Syrian crisis. As a solution to the severe problems caused by the government’s policies, we demand temporary residence and work permits to the asylum seekers residing in the country who had their applications rejected.

To safeguard the fair handling of asylum applications, as well as Finland’s credibility as a state of law, we demand that the Finnish Immigration Service’s activity be investigated in an independent audit.

We must also address the causes of the refugee problem in order to alleviate human suffering. Finland now sells weapons to states that actively participate in imperialistic wars, and which furnish weapons to warring factions throughout the globe. We demand an end to Finnish participation in weapons trade.

Instead of arming and financing Western military alliances, Finland as a wealthy country has the opportunity as well as the duty of participating in the efforts of redressing the injustices produced by European colonialism by stressing the importance of development cooperation. Hence, Finland must raise the budget funds devoted to development cooperation towards the level recommended by the UN, 0,7% of the GDP. It is time to recognise at last that Sipilä’s government’s budget cuts in development aid funds were a mistake and that these cuts must be withdrawn.

Political Committee of the Communist Party of Finland,
13.2.2018