VZCZCXYZ0013
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHHE #0574 3541132
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 191132Z DEC 08
FM AMEMBASSY HELSINKI
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 4715

UNCLAS HELSINKI 000574 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PREF PBTS SMIG FI
SUBJECT: FINLAND: IRAQI HUMAN SMUGGLING CASES 
 
REF: HELSINKI 00159 
 
¶1. SUMMARY. Iraqi asylum cases in Finland are on the rise, 
following a shift in the Government's refugee policy.  As the 
Iraqi population rises, Finnish officials encounter instances 
of people trying to circumvent refugee processes abroad to 
reunite with family and former neighbors now resident in 
Finland.  Finnish officials in the small city of Oulu have 
identified several instances of human smuggling.  Officials 
worry about an increase in criminality among an idle, mostly 
male immigrant population. END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. On December 11, the Finnish press reported that three 
Iraqis had been arrested for smuggling five Iraqis into the 
northern city of Oulu (near the Swedish border).  In a 
December 15 conversation with PolOff, Border Guard officials 
stated that they found no evidence of human trafficking, 
noting that all five applied for asylum in Finland after 
arrival. According to the officials, the asylum requests 
remain with the immigration office.  The officials suspect 
that the arrested Iraqis may have been involved in other 
smuggling incidences occurring between June and September 
¶2008. They described two cases in Oulu involving five aliens 
each and another case in nearby Kemi where an ethnic Iraqi 
resident in Sweden brought in one Iraqi individual without 
official papers. 
 
¶3. The officials said the Iraqis came to Oulu to join 
relatives - mostly from Mosul and Kirkuk - who had previously 
gained permission to stay in Finland or were already in the 
asylum process.  (NOTE: Official statistics support a broad 
estimate of the Iraqi population in Oulu, a city of about 
130,000, in the low hundreds.  END NOTE.)  From their 
interviews with those smuggled, the officials believe that 
the route for those interviewed was Iraq, Turkey, Greece, 
Italy, and Sweden, with Finland the intended and final 
destination. They also believe that the Iraqis pay more than 
$10,000 at the beginning of the route to get out of Iraq, 
then 2,000 euros to get through central Europe and another 
2,000 euros to get through Sweden. 
 
¶4. The Officials expressed two major concerns surrounding the 
smuggling case.  First, as the majority of the asylum seekers 
arriving in Oulu are men 20-30 years of age, the officials 
are concerned that crime could grow if the asylum-seekers 
have nothing to do. (NOTE: The officials noted that a number 
of asylum seekers claim to be 18 years but are later found to 
be older.  Finnish officials say asylum seekers claim to be 
minors because the application process is longer, a 
deportation decision is difficult to make if parents of a 
minor cannot be located, and family reunification rules make 
it easier for minors to join parents resident in Finland. END 
NOTE.) The officials' second concern is that political cells 
or groups from Iraq could regroup in Finland, though they had 
no evidence of political ties or related activities among the 
asylees. 
 
¶5. According to the Finnish Migration Service, the number of 
Iraqi asylum seekers in Finland has more than doubled since 
2006, and Iraqi applications are the only ones increasing. 
Iraq represented the third highest group of asylum seekers in 
2006, numbering 225 applications.  In 2007, it became the 
highest at 327 applications and so far in 2008, through 
August 30, Iraq again ranks highest as a source country with 
464 applications. Only one in four applicants is female. 
 
¶6. COMMENT. The increase in asylum seekers from Iraqi 
Kurdistan is in line with a Government of Finland shift in 
focus to Iraqi Kurds via UNHCR referral (REFTEL).  Finnish 
officials generally express concerns about criminality within 
young immigrant populations. The Finnish government does not 
track ethnic populations separately as a matter of law, 
creating difficulties in tracking statistics related to 
certain populations. The limited crime statistics available 
do not point to a level of criminality disproportionate to 
the Iraqi population.  END COMMENT. 
BARRETT