A Finnish court has sentenced a man with an Iraqi background to more than six years in prison for aggravated human trafficking, child abduction, and aggravated deprivation of liberty. The case involved a marriage to a 13-year-old girl, with whom the man had three children. The court also found that he had subjected the girl to sexual violence, taken the children from Finland to Sweden, and prevented her from maintaining contact with them.
It is clearly important that the justice system holds individuals accountable for actions that are incompatible with the legal and moral standards of Finnish society. One can hope that this is an isolated case, and not representative of broader cultural attitudes.
However, it is worth noting that Iraq has in recent years passed legislation that permits the marriage of girls as young as nine. This raises questions about how certain legal or cultural norms in some countries might differ significantly from those in Western societies, and how such differences can manifest when individuals move between cultures.
I raise this case because it highlights some of the challenges that humanitarian immigration can pose to host societies, particularly when deeply rooted cultural differences are involved. Child marriage is one example, but it is not the only area where tensions may arise.
For this reason, I believe it would be beneficial for integration policies in Finland to place greater emphasis on encouraging newcomers to adopt the norms and legal expectations of their new country. Rather than placing emphasis on the preservation of cultural practices that may fundamentally conflict with the principles of Western societies, integration efforts should focus on ensuring that newcomers adopt the core values of their new country—for example those related to human rights, gender equality, and the protection of children.
Such an approach would not only help prevent serious harm, as in the case discussed, but would also better support immigrants in building stable, lawful, and fulfilling lives in their new home.
Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Statistics on Sexual Crimes Committed by Immigrants in Finland
A Homosexual Rape Underscores the Need for Change in Immigration Policy
Sweden's Gang Crime Recruits Children – Is It Time for the EU to Reevaluate Asylum Policies?
There are some countries from which Finland should not take even the first human refugees. If we take, we should respect their culture and customs and just give them their money.
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