During the 2010s, there has been a significant increase in the numbers of people involved in jihadist activity in Finland. However, most of this activity is still quite small in scale, and it is mainly concerned with providing support in the form of recruitment and financing. Jihadist communication online has also increased during the present decade. The University of Helsinki has conducted two studies on these topics, commissioned by the Ministry of the Interior.

UK citizens’ right of residence after Brexit will be protected by a special act. The Government submitted the act for approval on Thursday 28 March, and the President of the Republic will approve it on Friday.

On 19 March, Parliament adopted a government proposal to amend the Firearms Act and the Act on Voluntary National Defence. The amendments will introduce the changes required by the EU Firearms Directive into Finnish legislation. The amendments will enter into force as soon as possible.

In the future, Finnish, Swedish and Norwegian public safety networks will function seamlessly outside the country borders. This will facilitate communications between the Nordic rescue authorities in accidents and emergencies. Finland’s Authority Radio Network VIRVE and the Swedish equivalent Rakel will be officially combined on 7 February. Before this, the public safety networks of Finland and Norway had been combined, as had those of Sweden and Norway.

A new Migration Review has been published. The report provides a concise summary of Finland’s migration-related policies, key legal amendments and up-to-date statistics. It also includes an extensive media review.

Minister of the Interior Kai Mykkänen will attend the meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs Council in Luxembourg on 12 October. Topics on the agenda include a strengthened European Border and Coast Guard, the Home Affairs Funds and the reform of the Common European Asylum System.

e Government has submitted a communication to Parliament on proposals concerning Home Affairs Funds for the EU’s next financial programming period 2021–2027. In future, there would be three Funds instead of the existing two. In general, they would cover the fields of the current Home Affairs Funds, but their structure would be changed, because the aim is to simplify and reduce the number of financial instruments.

A project appointed by the Ministry of the Interior on 3 July will investigate and draft possible amendments to the Aliens Act concerning the processing of subsequent applications for international protection and the implementation of the Finnish Immigration Service’s decisions enabled by the EU Asylum Procedures Directive. In connection with this project, an amendment required by the Court of Justice of the European Union will also be made to the Aliens Act. Under this amendment, the base date for assessing a refugee’s age in family reunification cases should be the date on which the application for international protection was submitted.

It is proposed that players of slot machines located across the country, excluding those located in game arcades, be required to identify themselves from the start of 2021. Compulsory identification would make it technically possible to introduce restrictions to manage at-risk gambling on slot machines too. At the moment, players must identify themselves when they play Veikkaus online games. The proposed legislative amendments concerning identification and the licence procedures for running lotteries were sent out for comments on 21 June.