18 Apr 2021
A Finnish court has sentenced an Iraqi migrant to four years in prison after being convicted of several crimes when he married a 13-year-old girl in Iraq and brought her to Finland in 2014.
The Iraqi-background man, who is 30-years-old, was convicted of aggravated rape, sexual abuse of a child, and human trafficking for incidents that took place between May and July of 2014.
The man had made attempts to claim that he did not know the true age of the girl when he married her but a court of appeal in Turku rejected his story, broadcaster Yle reports.
During the case, the National Institute for Health and Welfare carried out forensic tests on the girl, including x-rays of her teeth and hands, to determine her true age.
21 Dead, 3 Survivors After Mediterranean Migrant Boat Sinks
16 Apr 2021
TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) – Tunisian authorities said they recovered the bodies of 21 migrants from sub-Saharan Africa, including nine women and a baby, whose boat sank Friday off the central port city of Sfax. The cause of the sinking was unclear.
Commander Housemeddine Jebabli, of the National Guard, told The Associated Press there were only three survivors, who were rescued by the coast guard with the help of civil protection divers.
Jebabli said that authorities are continuing to search the area of the sinking, as there are indications that 17 people could be missing.
Jebabli said a survivor told him that the boat had 41 migrants on board, who had set off the day before from Sfax in hope of reaching the Italian coast.
Danish PM: Syrians from Damascus Area Should Return Home
16 Apr 2021
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has said that Syrian refugees from the area around Damascus should return home because Denmark has assessed the region to be safe.
Hundreds of Syrian refugees are scheduled to have their residency permits revoked in the coming months. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Frederiksen said she agreed with the move.
“If you’re a refugee, it’s because you have a need for protection. And if that need disappears because you are not individually persecuted or there are no general conditions that require protection, then, of course, you have to return to the country you come from,” Prime Minister Frederiksen said,
14 Apr 2021
Around 675,000 migrants living in Sweden are either on welfare benefits or are not able to support themselves through the work they do have, according to statistics from the Swedish Parliamentary Investigative Service (RUT).
The figures were highlighted in a recent detailed report on migration and integration presented by the centre-right Moderate Party that states the figure, which was recorded in 2019, means that a large section of the migrant population makes less than 186,000 Swedish Kronor (£15,890/$21,852) per year.
The report also cites another study by the Swedish Entrepreneurship Forum that revealed that between 1990 and 2016, it took migrants an average of four to five years to find a job and more than ten years for just half of new arrivals to find self-sufficient work.