Kurdish Hunger Strike In Finland Is

[kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu]

From: Arm The Spirit <ats at locust.etext.org>
Subject: Kurdish Hunger Strike In Finland Is Over

Kurdish Hunger Strike In Finland Is Over

     Kurdish asylum seekers finished their hunger strike
yesterday, October 8, 1997, after having written commitment from
the Finnish Asylum Board and the Finnish Foreigner Bureau to
investigate their asylum applications independently and in decent
time. (The Asylum Board is a second-degree court to where
complaints about the decisions of Foreigner Bureau are sent.)
This was a compromise, to be sure, but the 6 Kurds and their
Finnish friend who were driven to hospital were definitely eased,
having speant 19 days outside in the windy and humid sea weather
with almost zero degree temperature which had caused them severe
health effects: diarrhea, low blood pressure, and infected
wounds. The number of strikers varied, with the maximum number
being 14, and on Wednesday there were 11.  
     Pressure from Finland and foreign countries influenced
strongly Finnish officials. After the fax campaign started, a
delegation from the Foreigner Bureau visited the hunger strikers.
The leader of the Asylum Board talked for hours with the strikers
by telephone, several MPs visited strikers, and the final
culmination was the visit of the Minister of Domestic Affairs on
Tuesday evening in which he promised that written commitments
from officials would be sent the day after. After the written
commitments were received, the hunger strike finished.
     Maybe the victory was more psychological than concrete. The
methods of the Foreigner Bureau were strongly put on question,
and the best possible treatment is guaranteed for the Kurds who
went on hunger strike. The situation was difficult from the very
beginning, and the Foreigner Bureau was able to wash their hands
because the complaints are an area of the Asylum Board, and the
Asylum Board, thinking themselves to be an absolutely independent
and objective dispenser of laws, hates to be pushed and is also
severely backlogged up with tens of cases from other just as
desperate people. Still, there is a danger that officials now
think themselves to be saved and will continue their inhumane
working practices as before. But this was only the first round,
and if necessary, the asylum seekers will continue their pressure
towards the officials who are making illegal decisions and
mocking their commitment to international treaties.
     Thanks once again for all who have sent faxes and made phone
calls! Activism works!

Antti Rautiainen
antti.rautiainen at pp.kolumbus.fi    

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