Finnish interior minister Kai Mykkänen wants to see stricter rules when granting citizenships in Finland to foreigners and hopes for harsher punishment for criminal offenders.
The minister is shocked by the recent appalling crimes in the city of Oulu, where a large group of Middle Eastern men acted in unison to rape and sexually abuse native children as young as 10.
– This should not be happening in Finland, Mykkänen said to Finnish newspaper Iltalehti today.
Finnish president Sauli Niinistö has equally expressed his utter shock and rage after becoming aware of the crimes.
A total of nine enemy soldiers from the Middle East are suspected of raping and sexually abusing various children in Oulu. Eight of them have been detained. Iltalehti reports that some of the men had received Finnish citizenship.
Mykkänen says that Finnish society must ”find ways to prevent similar cases” and claims that harsher sentencing could be one of the ways.
The government of Finland is already working on implementing stricter punishments for sexual crimes were children are victimised – as well as soon adopting new legislation for quicker deportation of criminal foreigners. According to Mykkänen, migration authorities should look closer into the attitudes of immigrants.
– Education and work is of course done already for integration, but we still have to look at what can be required more clearly in the attitudes, looking into ways in which those who move here can become committed to our values.
On Monday, minister Mykkänen had discussed the rape problem in a studio debate. The statistics show that in 2017, 693 Finnish citizens and 286 foreign nationals had been suspected of rape. A gross over representation of foreigners.
– There are of course some Finnish people who commit rampant rapes, but we shouldn’t sweep under the carpet the fact that foreigners are much more likely to be suspects.
Mykkänen wants to see stricter vetting of the attitudes and values of foreigners seeking Finnish citizenship:
– Yes, I especially think (attitudes) about the integrity of the human being and civilized interaction between the sexes is one thing that needs to be further evaluated.