Posted on 08/21/2021 7:23:05 AM PDT by Right Wing Vegan
Finns Party leader Riikka Purra on Saturday said Finland should channel Afghan aid efforts to the country's neighbouring regions dealing with an influx of people fleeing the Taliban.
Speaking on Yle's Ykkösaamu talk show on Saturday, the leader of the opposition party claimed that Finnish military resources were being used to repatriate Afghans living in Finland who were visiting their former home country.
"Finnish military is also securing the return of people awarded refugee status in Finland, but then returned to Afghanistan to vacation, or whatever," she said.
Purra was, however, unable to specify how many individuals she was referring to in this statement.
On Friday, Finland said it would send troops to Kabul airport to support the activities of its evacuation team there. Finnish troops are tasked with operating at the airport in Kabul. They will not venture beyond its immediate surroundings. Finland has said it aims to evacuate 240 individuals.
Purra noted that Finnish authorities urged its citizens to leave Afghanistan weeks ago.
"I wouldn't deploy the Finnish Defence Forces to pick people up now. They should leave on their own," she said.
She, however, noted that Finland should help locally hired staff at the mission in Kabul leave "if they risked their lives to serve Finland."
Purra said she would like to see humanitarian aid targeted to areas surrounding Afghanistan, and that the party does not want to see the Afghanistan crisis spark a refugee influx to Europe.
"Immigration is not the efficient means of helping, neither from a financial nor humanitarian standpoint," she said, adding that "Finland, the EU and the international community should focus on helping those fleeing Afghanistan to meet their basic needs in areas near Afghanistan." "Zero refugees"
Purra has called for abolishing Finland's refugee quota. That said, the nationalist party does not support nearly doubling Finland's annual refugee quota from 1,050 to 2,000, as proposed earlier this week by Interior Minister Maria Ohisalo in light of the Afghanistan crisis.
Purra moreover criticised Finland for being poorly prepared to handle any growth in asylum cases.
Finland's current refugee quota is 1,050 people. The quota system shares out refugees among EU member states according to a calculation based on key data such as GDP, unemployment figures and national population.
bttt
Refugees... who might be on vacation, where they fled from? Where do they get money for airfare, vacation travel, etc.? If the old country is good enough to go to for a vacation, why is it so horrible that they had to flee from it?
What a racist party!! The Finns should start an ALM (Afghan Lives Matter) peaceful protests to support them!!! /s
I’ve befriended some Finns Party supporters. Very super cool and smart. Learning a lot of what is going on there from them.
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