Keeping migrants out of jail is so important that Finland is now offering them optional classes on Finnish law, BBC reported. The police- and ministry-backed courses are a way for new migrants to become informed about the laws in their new home country, which could differ considerably from those in their homelands. These courses are now being implemented in response to Finland’s increasing number of sexual assaults in the past few months.
Though the police haven’t disclose suspects’ ethnicities, Helsinki’s Deputy Chief of Police Ilka Koskimaki told BBC, “These incidents, where groups of young foreign men surround a girl in a public place and harass her, have become a phenomenon.”
Though the Finnish government has good intentions with these classes, it’s making too many assumptions about migrants by targeting them. It’s not fair to attribute the influx of immigrants to a rise in the number of reported sexual assault cases. There may be a correlation between the two, but that doesn’t mean that one caused the other.
It’s good that the government assumes migrants committing crimes are only doing it because they’re not informed of Finnish law. That may very well be the case for some migrants. But targeting their otherness by means of ethnicity is a counterproductive way to assimilate them into Finnish culture. Focusing on immersion instead of isolation would be better for migrants and Finnish citizens. Promoting this class solely to migrants may give Finnish citizens a reason to feel threatened by them.
Gearing the classes towards migrants also assumes that every migrant family will hold conservative values, when that is simply not the case. Not every migrant comes from the same country, not every migrant holds the same values and not every migrant should be targeted.
Finland isn’t intentionally being xenophobic to its migrant classes, but that’s how it comes off. Restructuring the class as a general primer for living in a new country instead of a crime-prevention tool could be more mutually beneficial.
Another way to improve these courses is to expand the topics covered to include more than just education on law. If someone is going to live in a country, they’ll need to know general etiquette and courtesy to avoid being a social outcast. Finland should take its own security into account while still keeping the migrants’ well-being in mind. A country has a responsibility to keep its citizens safe. That should also extend to its migrants.
And of course, the classes would be better if they were offered to a broader group of people. Migrants aren’t the only people who commit sexual assault, and definitely aren’t the only people who need education on topics such as consent and domestic abuse. High schoolers here in the United States need the same information and aren’t receiving it either. Offering the class to more than just migrants could only help the country.
There are more similarities to be drawn between Finland and the United States, the most apparent of which is the way both countries profile certain ethnic groups for specific crimes.
Similarly, people applying for citizenship aren’t told much about living in the United States. They’re only required to know about U.S. history and government to pass a test that most natural-born citizens would likely fail. Knowing one author of the Federalist Papers is great, but it’s not going to help you cross the street. Knowing how to live is a good thing. Knowing only how to stay out of jail is not.
The Finnish government ultimately needs to recognize the rise in crime as a Finnish problem — not a migrant problem. The government knows what to fix, but is struggling for a way to fix it. There isn’t one ethnic group that needs to learn about law. And when it comes to education, the more, the merrier.
This author has completely blown this article! The migrants ARE responsible for the rise in crimes. What does it take for people to see a connection. If every single man who raped a woman went in front of a lineup and said” yes, I’m a foreigner,” this author would still say”hmm, I don’t see a connection”.
And you can’t have it both ways – first the media said that trying to tell them the laws beforehand was racist (as one German town did – don’t harass young women, don’t crap in the gardens, etc) and they had to pull this notice down, even though the reason they put it up was because that’s exactly what the migrants WERE doing!
They were called racists. Then Norway’s “how no to rape” classes for migrants was heralded as, “gee, oh yes, we need to address the cultural differences so these little unpleasantries, like rape can be avoided”. Now Finland has seen a spike in rapes by ALL migrants and wants to tell them the laws, and you complain and quibble that it might hurt their poor, widdle feelings????? Are you f***ing serious. They would’t need these laws in their face, if they’d hadn’t used their down time to stalk, harass and rape young girls. Jesus, you people are dangerous. One 14 year old girl was RAPED only 2 weeks after migrants moved into a refugee center in a Finland village. TWO weeks before her life came crashing down because do-gooders think those able-bodied men deserve a paradise at the expense of the safety of the rest of the natives.
No, you don’t get to protect the sensibilities or feelings of migrants – they come to a land, they obey the law. They read the laws, take classes about it, whatever, the point is…. their FEELINGS are not the priority here, don’t you GET THAT? Stopping rapes is the point. As for your reprehensible line that it’s good that governments assume it is ignorance of the law to explain why they would stalk and rape a 14 year old girl (the next day by the way, ANOTHER 14 year old girl was rape a Finland city away)… they KNOW they are doing something wrong and they don’t care. Stop being blind, you will write anything not to be called a racist and this behavior is SICK. People’s lives are at stake all because politicians and media and supposed experts are all collectively kissing the a$$ of migrants (90% Muslims) because you are too afraid to stand up to them.
“It’s not fair to attribute the influx of immigrants to a rise in the number of reported sexual assault cases. ”
Good one. That’s some funny stuff right there.
Unless, of course, you were the one getting raped or beaten or harassed.