Somalia refuses to take back its citizens – now Finland stops aid in protest

Published 20 November 2024 at 18.07

Foreign. Finland is canceling its long-standing development cooperation, so-called country programs, with Somalia. The reason is that the African country still refuses to accept its own citizens who are to be deported from Finland, reports Yle.

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The decision was announced by the Minister of Foreign Trade and Development Ville Tavio from Sannfinländarna during a press conference on Wednesday.

– No new funding decisions within the country program will be made until concrete progress has been made in the process with Somalia, says Tavio according to Yle.

According to the minister it is clear from the government program that countries receiving aid must receive their own citizens whom Finland wants to send back – something that has not worked satisfactorily in the cooperation with Somalia.

Wille Tavio hopes that the cooperation can be resumed next year, but it is in that case is dependent on the returns being made to a sufficient extent. He refers to the fact that the lack of capacity and political will has so far hindered progress.

The program, which would have meant annual aid of 8-9 million euros from 2025 – i.e. close to 100 million kroner – is being phased out. However, the humanitarian support, as well as funding to so-called non-governmental organizations and the private sector, will continue as before.

According to the Finnish Migration Board, 148 Somali people have been rejected and 22 deported from Finland in the last 12 months.

The promise to condition parts of the aid “on the recipient country taking responsibility for its own citizens and taking them back when necessary” is also written into the Swedish Tidö agreement, which is the model for the agreement that the governing parties in Finland have concluded . In Sweden, however, not much has happened on that point – nor on many other points, according to the critics.