Eastern border|The Finnish Border Security Union has proposed that the evaluator of asylum-seeking exceptions should be a general manager or at least an officer of the rank of lieutenant.
Minister of the Interior Mari Rantanen (ps) rejected on Saturday Mightily In the first morning, the proposal of the Border Security Union, which represents the border guards, to the government’s new “conversion law”.
On Tuesday, the government presented a bill to the parliament, which could be used to prevent asylum seekers at the border. However, children and the disabled, as well as people who are at risk of, for example, being subjected to the death penalty or torture in their country of origin, should be allowed to enter the country.
When the law enters into force, assessments of a person’s particularly vulnerable position would be made by the border guards at the border. The responsibility for making a decision is great, because in the worst case, a misjudgment can lead to the death of a person trying to land. The Finnish Border Security Union has proposed that the evaluator of asylum-seeking exceptions should be a general manager or at least an officer of the rank of lieutenant.
Although the Border Security Union is not completely satisfied with the government’s proposal, it nevertheless considers the enactment of the law necessary.
Rantanen according to the fact that the evaluation of the vulnerable position would be done by the general manager or at least an officer of the rank of lieutenant, “is not a very realistic option”.
Rantanen told Yle that the adequate level of competence of border guards is ensured through training and good guidance. According to him, the border guards get support from more experienced people and can rely on telephone interpretation in the field.
“If you think that a doctor has a good clinical eye, then in exactly the same way, border guards and our authorities observe many things about a person just for work and every day,” Rantanen said.
Border Security Union chairman Erkki Hirvonsalo estimates that ensuring adequate training for border guards to identify people in a particularly vulnerable position is challenging.
Border inspectors examine documents and do profiling for their work, but according to Hirvonsalo’s assessment, not all employees of the Border Guard currently have sufficient skills to identify who should be allowed into the country based on vulnerability.
“There is no educational package that tells you this is a child, this is not a child. This is disabled, this is not disabled. Profiling ability comes with long-term experience,” says Hirvonsalo.
He does not believe that assessments could be done in the forest, as people in a particularly vulnerable position usually have documents that need to be reviewed.
In practice, the newcomer should be transported to the border inspection station. There you can also find the necessary experience for the assessment of entry into the country, Hirvonsalo states.
If the government The bill will not contain the changes that the Border Security Union wishes, we will live with the situation, says Hirvonsalo.
However, the border guards are concerned about their own legal protection, because the bill does not mention anything about civil servants’ legal protection. Decisions at the border are made with official responsibility, but making decisions possibly affecting life and health is new for border guards.
“It’s not the responsibility in itself that scares me, but who bears it. It has been said before that we are not doctors, that it is difficult for us to go and see what is such a serious illness that it could not be returned to Russia,” he says.
Translation law the preparation has been exceptionally laborious, as the proposal is in certain parts contrary to both the Finnish Constitution and international agreements. It is an exceptional law, so the proposal needs the support of five-sixths of the parliament.
Rantanen told Yle on Saturday that the conversion law could come into effect already in the summer.
“Yes, we assume that when the law is in force, then in any case it will be returned to the Russian side. It is then the task of the operational planning of the Border Guard to ensure that it comes true,” he said.
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