Government made a decision on an additional quota of refugees

Finland will accept 500 Syrian refugees next year. The Government decided today to increase the refugee quota for 2014 by 300 persons. In addition, the Ministry of the Interior made a decision that 200 places of the standard quota of 750 will be allocated to Syrian refugees. Finland wants to participate, as part of the international community, in alleviating the humanitarian crisis in Syria.

”Although Finland faces its own economic difficulties, we must be ready to help those in the middle of extreme human suffering,” says Minister of the Interior Päivi Räsänen who presented the draft decision to the Government.

The Syrian refugees will be accepted in accordance with the standard quota procedure together with the UN Refugee Agency UNCHR. Because of the extensive refugee crisis in Syria, UNHCR has appealed on several occasions for states to offer help in the refugee crisis in addition to providing humanitarian aid. The scale of the crisis is overwhelming, and for this reason UNHCR hopes that states can take exceptional measures going beyond their normal measures to help refugees.

The conflict in Syria began nearly two and a half years ago now and has claimed the life of approximately 100,000 people. According to UNCHR, more than two million people have fled Syria, and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs OCHA has estimated that the number of internally displaced persons is more than four million. With the crisis continuing, the number of refugees is expected to increase further.

The annual refugee quota is set as part of the budget process on the decision of Parliament. The expenses arising from the supplementary quota will be taken into account in the amendment to the budget proposal for 2014. The need for additional appropriations for 2014 is approximately EUR 1.5 million, and for the period 2015–2017 the additional expenses incurred by 300 persons are some EUR 2.8 million.

For further information, please contact Mr Andrei Nahkala, Special Adviser to the Minister of the Interior, tel. +358 40 593 2127