Hope For a Better Life Is Not an Acceptable Basis for Asylum

Nigerian Mary told Finnish media that she left Nigeria for Italy at the age of 18 in hopes of a better life. She was promised a good job, but upon arrival, she was forced into street prostitution. Behind this were Nigerian criminal organizations that profit from human trafficking.

In Italy, Mary married a Nigerian man who, according to her, was extremely violent. To escape this situation, she traveled to Finland with her two children a little over a year ago.

However, her asylum application was rejected because Mary had already been granted a residence permit based on asylum in Italy and had not disclosed in her initial application that she was a victim of human trafficking. After the rejection, Mary then revealed her story of forced prostitution.

This did not help, as a month ago, the Finnish Administrative Court decided that Mary could be deported. Following this decision, the immigration police took her and her children from the reception center and transported them to another part of Finland.

Hopefully, Mary's story reaches as many people from developing countries as possible, so they understand that coming to the EU solely in search of a "better life" is not advisable, nor is it wise to leave the country that granted asylum to seek new opportunities in another member state. Instead, in the country that granted asylum – in Mary's case, Italy – victims of crime should contact the local police, whose duty is to apprehend criminals.

Acting as Mary did will only lead to marginalization, where one is at best labeled an asylum shopper, whom no EU country wishes to accept. In Mary’s case, Italy, for some reason, made an exception, even though it is clear that the hope for a better life is not an acceptable basis for asylum.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Finland to Tighten Citizenship Requirements Further
Statistics on Sexual Crimes Committed by Immigrants in Finland
Immigration-Specific Violent Crime Increases as Humanitarian Immigration Continues

Will the multinational force led by Kenyans help?

The only state in the Western Hemisphere led by people of Sub-Saharan African descent - Haiti - has appointed a new prime minister, Garry Conille. He is a former Prime Minister of Haiti, whose term began in 2011 and ended already in 2012.

However, Conille's prospects for lifting gang-ridden Haiti out of chaos and misery do not seem promising, as the country's healthcare system is on the verge of collapse, millions of people are threatened by famine and infectious diseases, and over 362,000 Haitians have been forced to leave their homes due to violence.

The task should, however, be facilitated by the arrival of multinational forces led by Kenya. Their mission is to disarm the gang members. It remains to be seen whether the new prime minister will succeed or if the country's turmoil will continue during and after his tenure.

* * *

The information in the previously written text, with one exception, comes from an article published by the Finnish afternoon newspaper Ilta-Sanomat. I added only the information about the distinct ethnic background of Haitians compared to other inhabitants of the American continent. I did this because this information may be relevant to the years-long plight of Haiti, considering the general level of societal success of Sub-Saharan African states.

I first took notice of Haiti nine years ago. At that time, five years after the earthquake, a wave of looting followed, which required Western soldiers to quell.

Additionally, I drew the attention of my esteemed readers to the fact that in Haiti at that time, even 12-year-old girls were selling themselves to pedophiles to obtain food and goods. Hopefully, this is not the case in the current situation.

At that time, I did not yet take into account the ethnic origin of Haiti's population but only noticed it in my writing seven years ago. However, the editorial team of Finnish media still does not seem to be interested in this issue, not even because the uniqueness of the country's population is rooted in one of the most successful ethnic cleansings in history.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
South Africa: life without a culture of maintenance
Racism or self-preservation instinct?
Should forbidden questions be answered or not?