It is a cliché to say that “immigrants are assets and not liabilities in any society.” but that is absolutely true. The mainstream inclusion of immigrants in society matters is not only for the enhancement of diversity and inclusion but due to the myriads of meaningful contributions they bring to society. According to the 2019 Finnish Enterprise Association report (Suomen Yrittäjät) entrepreneurship among immigrants is rapidly growing. The report says “There are 10,000 entrepreneurs” who moved into Finland. They employ 30,000 people and their businesses have a combined turnover of €3.5 billion. The report buttresses the point that immigrants are assets and not liabilities.
Immigrants are part of vulnerable population and several factors affects immigrants vulnerability which includes; socio-economic background, immigration status, limited local language proficiency, national and local policies on access to publicly funded health care, residential location, systematic discrimination and marginalization, etc.
In most countries, immigrants have lower rates of health insurance, use less health care, and receive lower quality of care than native population. Because of these abnormalities, members of The United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) are obliged to progressively ensure the right to social security to all individuals within their territories, providing specific protection for disadvantaged and marginalised individuals and groups. They are also mandated to address the power imbalance that exists between vulnerable people and the general population to ensure that they are included.
The Finnish municipal election is around the corner with advance voting beginning on Wednesday May 26. This year’s election has witnessed a rise in the number of immigrants who are running for the election when compared to the 2017 statistics. Several candidates from immigrant backgrounds are running for the local elections to make their voices heard and to effect change in their various municipalities. Governance begins at the local councils before it gets to the Parliament. The top most priorities of the candidates from immigrant backgrounds are integration and inclusion which forms the fulcrum of their campaigns. Candidates from immigrant backgrounds wants to address the issue of immigrant vulnerability in society.
Finland is a relatively ethnically homogeneous country that operates a multi-party system. Majority of the political parties supports integration and inclusion but for the Finns Party (Perussuomalaiset) the reverse is the case and this brings me to the subject matter “Why are immigrants in a party that doesn’t support the integration of immigrants?” What do they intend to achieve ? What are their motives for joining?
It is ridiculous to see candidates from immigrant backgrounds campaigning under the Finns Party that has a record history of anti-immigrant ideologies and statements. The party embraces nativist identity politics of Finnish nationalism. An immigrant joining the Finns Party is like a Palestinian who lives in the State of Israel who is a member of The Zionist Party with values and ideologies that negates what the vulnerable Palestinians stands for.
Several statements coming from the leadership of the Finns Party are targeted at immigrants most especially those from Asia and Africa. Recently, Finns Party chair Jussi Halla-aho who is against making English one of Helsinki’s official languages on Yle’s Great Election Debate, 11 May 2021 stated that;
“The problem with these people is that they usually don’t even stay at work for very long, but throw themselves into the social security system for life. After a few, a couple, three years in the country, their employment rate will fall below the employment rate of the native population, even though they have come here specifically for work,”
According to Yle, the claims by the Finns Party chair is totally false as there is currently no data from which the rate of change in the employment rate of immigrant workers over time could be comprehensively reviewed at the Centre of Expertise in Immigrant Integration at Finland’s Ministry of Employment and the Economy. Yle opined that by combining data from various surveys and statistics, it can be concluded that the employment rate of people entering the country to work is higher than that of the native population and will remain higher for at least ten years. Other register data shows that the employment and earnings levels of immigrants generally increase with the length of their time in the country, Furthermore, the use of social welfare benefits by immigrants tends to decline.
Yle reported last year March that the Finns Party document posited that “Asylum seekers arriving in Finland from Sweden must be stopped at the border and their applications should be rejected as being clearly without basis. Individuals who for one reason or another cannot be turned back or returned elsewhere should be placed in a location where they do not have access to the rest of society,”
