Eastern border | Dozens of researchers from different fields appeal to the administrative committee to overturn the “conversion law”.

Professor Lena Näre and economist Markus Jäntti have started collecting the names of researchers for a petition opposing the so-called “conversion law”.

Näre is a professor of sociology at the University of Helsinki and Jäntti is a professor of economics at the University of Stockholm.

Prepared online by 19:30 on Sunday evening, the petition had already been signed by more than 80 researchers from various fields. The purpose is to collect names until Sunday evening at ten o’clock.

The petition with the list of names will be sent to the members of the administrative committee of the parliament on Monday morning, when the committee meets to discuss the bill.

Plea is entitled a petition to the administrative committee on the government’s proposal regarding the law on temporary measures to combat instrumentalized immigration.

“We now appeal to you, the members of the administrative committee, to use your judgment and reject this bill that violates the Finnish constitution and human rights obligations,” the petition reads.

According to the petition, it is “unheard of” that the parliament is enacting a law that contradicts both the constitution and human rights treaties. According to the petition, the government has not been able to demonstrate how the increase in the number of asylum seekers would cause a serious security threat to Finland.

“The rule of law must be able to protect the right to apply for asylum, regardless of the route or how the person arrived at the border,” the petition reads.

Sociology professor Näre says that they want to influence “that the administrative committee turns to the right side of history”.

“Now legal scholars have been quite vocal, but we want to show that the research community much more widely, such as social scientists and humanists, shares the same concern as the experts heard by the Constitutional Law Committee,” says Näre.

Markus Jäntti is known as a left-wing economist. Does this petition have a political party background?

“Is not. This is non-partisan. This is where science comes first.”

According to Nären, Finland would be able to take care of the people that Russia may have machined into Finland.

“I haven’t heard any evidence that this is a question of somehow dangerous people.”

Näre says that Russia’s mechanization does not make people exceptionally dangerous.

So is the only way to respond to Russia’s instrumentalized immigration is to accept people?

“Yes.”

According to Nären, there are different ways and procedures at the reception that work well in 2015.

“I don’t understand what is so different here than in 2015, when this challenge was handled excellently.”

Young spruce has researched asylum seeking and immigration. According to him, there is no evidence that seeking asylum is a threat.

“This discussion is unnervingly black and white, that just because Russia is behind this, these people would somehow be different asylum seekers than those who come to Finland through, say, Sweden or Norway.”