Finland appoints Tuula Svinhufvud to coordinate undocumented migrants’ repatriation initiatives

The Finnish government aims to encourage a growing number of undocumented migrants to return to their home countries, either voluntarily or forcibly. This is part of Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s government program focused on reducing immigration. A practical consequence of this initiative is the appointment of a new expert at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs responsible for repatriations. The official title of the new appointee, Tuula Svinhufvud, is Foreign Policy Counselor on Return Matters and Migration, a position she has held after a long career in the ministry.

Svinhufvud’s role involves coordinating migration-related initiatives within the ministry and participating in formulating Finland’s stance in the EU and the UN. The main responsibility for repatriation and immigration lies with the Ministry of the Interior. Returning undocumented migrants has become a contentious electoral issue in the U.S., EU, and Finland, with anti-immigration sentiments rising alongside the influence of far-right parties across Europe.

The European Commission is currently preparing a unified return system, and Svinhufvud hopes that human rights and Finland’s international obligations will be considered within this framework. Negotiations with countries like Iraq and Somalia are ongoing, as they resist accepting all of their nationals, despite Finland’s decisions to remove them.

The focus on repatriation represents a shift in priorities for the Finnish government, moving away from past approaches that aimed to regularize the status of undocumented migrants who arrived in 2015 and 2016. While repatriations are increasing, only one in five individuals under a return order goes back to their home country. Svinhufvud notes that the discussion around immigration has evolved, with a greater emphasis needed on the rights of migrants and the contributions they make to society.