Govt to improve legal aid for asylum seekers

The Ministry of Justice has addressed the problems in legal aid service provision for asylum seekers as per the assessment made by a study, said a press release on Wednesday.

The study commissioned by the ministry in its interim report has proposed measures to ensure the quality of legal aid service provision for asylum seekers.

The study has examined how asylum seekers have reached legal aid service providers, the strengths and weaknesses of the legal aid services provided, and whether asylum seekers have received the assistance they needed or not.

“I commissioned this study so that we can develop the legal aid services provided in Finland. Now it is time for us to deliberate what kind of further action is needed. We have addressed the problems highlighted and the measures proposed in the report, and we are currently looking for further solutions,” said Minister of Justice Antti Häkkänen.

He said his ministry in cooperation with the Ministry of the Interior will next assess the need to amend the provisions of the Aliens Act concerning the appeal periods and the scope of legal aid provided in asylum matters.

“These legislative amendments will be carefully assessed and prepared, in the same manner as all other legislative projects,” said the minister, adding that the ministry has already taken actions to improve the situation.

The ministry is also involved in a project of the Finnish Immigration Service aimed at developing the provision of legal assistance to asylum seekers as early on in the asylum process as possible.

Currently, state-funded legal aid can be granted for the duration of the entire asylum process – from submission of an asylum application to the possible proceedings at the Supreme Administrative Court.

More than two-thirds of all asylum seekers have applied for state-funded legal aid. In 2015-2017, a total of 28,657 asylum seekers applied for legal aid and 99 per cent of them were granted legal aid.

The remaining one-third did not applied for legal aid either because they had not been aware of this possibility or because they had not felt that they needed legal aid.