‘Open Trade, Closed Mentality’ : Finland Gives Refugees Cold Shoulder

Finland, sometimes accused of sending back Soviet defectors, is being criticized by Western Bloc neighbors for freezing out Third World refugees.

Finns, however, indicate that their government’s attitude is just fine.

A land of cold winters at the top of Europe, Finland may not be the first choice of a faraway refugee, but that does not fully explain why only 123 of the 30,000 refugees who entered the Nordic welfare state last year settled here.

Of those, 122, most of them Vietnamese “boat people,” filled the Finnish refugee quota. In addition, Finland last year granted political asylum to one immigrant--an Iranian fleeing the Gulf War.

Only 23 Apply

Only 23 people bothered to apply for asylum in Finland, which by tradition has a strict immigration policy. Neighboring Sweden gave asylum to 17,400 refugees who applied in 1986.

Lutheran Archbishop John Vikstrom, addressing a recent bishop’s conference in Helsinki, said that Finland’s policy toward refugees is a regrettable example of “national egotism, which we feel we can practice in this isolated and sheltered corner of Europe.”

Finland is a sparsely populated country of 4.9 million.

In the Nordic Council, an advisory body to the five Nordic governments, Finland’s Scandinavian neighbors have urged it to share responsibility for the growing number of Middle East and other refugees who have massed in Northern Europe in the 1980s.

Sore Spot

But Paavo Lipponen, a Finnish Social Democratic member of Parliament, responded, “Finland can’t solve Sweden’s and Denmark’s immigration problems.”

Lipponen put his finger on a sore spot.

Sweden and Denmark, once homogeneous societies, have been shaken by racism following years of liberal acceptance of refugees. Those nations have now adopted stricter immigration policies. Police say that some refugees pay large sums to international criminals for false travel documents, then burn their passports on arrival in Scandinavian countries.

“Finland and Iceland are the only two west European countries who have not had terrorist incidents,” a western observer said. “The Finns feel if you allow too much immigration, this peace will come to an end.”

Soviet Border Problem

Another reason that the Finns watch their borders, observers said, is that if word got around that Finland had a liberal refugee policy, Soviet defectors would pour across the 800-mile joint border.

Finland avoids problems with Moscow, a price the former Russian Grand Duchy pays for being a sovereign, western-styled democracy blossoming in the shadow of the Communist superpower.

Amnesty International, the London-based human rights group, has cited 10 cases over the last decade in which Finland repatriated asylum-seeking Soviets to the Soviet Union.

Finland, which has signed the U.N. Convention on Refugees, denies sending people back across the Soviet border against their will. But defectors from the East say they simply know better than to surface in Finland, so they choose Sweden instead.

Campaign Rhetoric

During the campaign leading to Finland’s March 15 and 16 election, politicians made what seemed like half-hearted promises about raising the annual refugee quota. Their vows were meant to appease the vocal minority that advocates a more tolerant refugee policy. Opinion polls show that the silent majority doesn’t care about the policy.

Four out of five of those responding to a recent survey balked at a suggestion that a few more foreign workers in Finland would give the country “useful international impulses.”

Nine out of 10 agreed that they were lucky and privileged to be born Finns. Three-quarters said that Finns must energetically defend their national culture against foreign influence.

Bjorn Sundell, who conducted the survey for the independent Council of Economic Organizations in Finland, said there are too few people in Finland with international experience, a matter of concern for the export-oriented Finnish industry.

‘Closed Mentality’

“Finns favor open trade but have a closed mentality,” Sundell said.

In 1898, Finnish writer Zacharias Topelius said that the average Finn was “known for his reserve, his caution. He needs time to relax and get to know people. But when he does, he is a trustworthy friend.”

In that respect, Sundell smiled, things have not changed.

But the problem remains for would-be immigrants to get a chance to know the Finns.