NORDIC REGION: Doctors in Finland Warn Against Healthcare Restrictions for Undocumented People ― Norway Proposes Reforms to Increase Refugee Employment ― Sweden Planning € 30,000 Allowance for Voluntary Returns― Chinese Activist Denied Asylum in Denmark Seeks Refuge in Sweden | European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE)

Doctors in Finland have criticised the government’s proposal to withhold healthcare from undocumented people.
Norway is planning to introduce significant amendments to the Integration Act to speed up the integration of refugees into the workforce.
The Swedish government is planning to offer a € 30,000 allowance to people who leave Sweden and return to their countries of origin voluntarily.
A Chinese activist who risks detainment in China has fled to Sweden after her application for asylum in Denmark was rejected.

The Finnish government has proposed to reverse a 2023 law that gives undocumented people access to healthcare. It has justified the move on the grounds that it would be in line with ongoing plans to reduce spending and immigration. Responding to the proposal, which it claims could result in deaths, the Finnish Medical Association has urged the government to change its “problematic and damaging” plan that would prevent people from accessing non-emergency health care. Aino Tuomi-Nikula from the health NGO Physicians for Social Responsibility said: “Those who tabled this proposal pretend that we don’t have enough money for everyone and that full access to healthcare would invite more people to Finland. We know this is not true, and that it’s actually cheaper to treat conditions in advance by primary healthcare than leaving them to emergency care. This measure is a political stunt to crack down on marginalised people and bank on public fear of migrants”. Louise Bonneau from the Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants said: “Healthcare is a basic human right, not a privilege reserved for some. This law, if passed, would lead to suffering and betray Finland’s commitment to equality and justice. It must be rejected”. The proposal, which has strong support from the far-right Finns Party, was due to be presented to parliament before 28 September. However, on 18 September, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health said that it would postpone the proposal until the start of 2025 as it needed “more time for preparation”.

Elsewhere, the draft budget that was presented by the Ministry of Finance Budget in August includes a number of cuts that may affect the work of refugee-focused NGOs in Finland. The Ministry of Justice is reportedly planning to cut its funding to the Finnish League for Human Rights (Ihmisoikeuksien) by more than half while ECRE organisation Finnish Refugee Advice Centre (Pakolaisneuvonta) may lose all of its government funding. Reacting to the budget proposal, the head Pia Lindfors from Pakolaisneuvonta said: “The support we received from the Ministry of Justice has been our salvation, and last year we were put on the frame for the first time. We just had time to take a breather, but now we’re going back to saving mode”.

Norway is planning to amend the Integration Act and introduce new measures to the induction programme in order to increase the number of refugees in employment. The new measures include more job-focused activities, the integration of older refugees [55-60 years old] in the induction programme and an extension of education time for refugees. “More refugees need to work. The experiences after the high number of arrivals from Ukraine show how important and effective it is to streamline integration. Now, we want to add improvements to the Integration Act so that this applies to all future refugees who come to Norway,” said Minister for Employment and Inclusion Tonje Brenna. “The most important thing we do for integration is for those who come to Norway to learn Norwegian and get a job in a serious working life. Then we must have a flexible and simple regulatory framework that helps to achieve these goals,” she added.

In Sweden, the government is planning to increase the allowance for people who wish to return to their country of origin voluntarily. The current remigration allowance is € 873 but only one person used it in 2023. The government is reportedly planning to increase this amount to € 30,000 from 2026. “More people who haven’t really been able to find their place here in Sweden will choose to return instead of living here and, year after year, living on benefits, living in exclusion,” said Sweden Democrats (SD) Spokesperson Ludvig Aspling. “We believe that there are many people who would actually prefer to return home, but they may need a little help along the way,” he added. The proposal to increase the remigration allowance appears to be creating division between the three parties that make up the coalition government. “We should not contribute to the implementation of ill-considered proposals that are actually based on the SD’s harsh rhetoric,” said Finnish Liberal member of the European Parliament Karin Karlsbro. Her Liberal party colleague, Youth Association chair Anton Holmlund, added: “It [the allowance] sends pretty bad signals to everyone who wants to stay and wants to integrate. Here, the government says that you should not stay here. Ideally, we want to pay you to leave. This is a completely wrong signal and will not help integration in Sweden”.

A Chinese activist is at risk of deportation after Denmark rejected her asylum application. Liu Dongling, who leads an online campaign called ‘Ban the Great Firewall’ against China’s internet censorship regime, applied for asylum in June 2022. In June 2024, Danish immigration authorities informed Liu that her asylum application had been rejected and that she would be deported to China within seven days. Fearing she would be falsely detained in China, Liu fled to Sweden. A number of human rights organisations, including the Madrid-based Safeguard Defenders, are trying to persuade the Danish immigration authorities to reconsider their decision. “We have prepared all the paperwork to support the reassessment of her case,” said the organisation’s director, Peter Dahlin.

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