CAT/C/FIN/CO/5-6
appropriate time, so that the Parliamentary Ombudsman may act as the national
preventive mechanism.
Detention and ill-treatment of asylum-seekers, irregular immigrants and other aliens
17.
The Committee is concerned about information regarding the frequent use of
administrative detention with regard to asylum-seekers, irregular immigrants,
unaccompanied or separated minors, women with children and other vulnerable persons,
including those with special needs, as well as with their numbers, the frequency and the
length of their detention. In addition, the Committee is concerned that the Aliens Act allows
for preventive detention not for a crime already committed but if a person is suspected of
the possibility of committing a crime (arts. 11 and 16).
The Committee recommends that the State party consider alternatives to the frequent
detention of asylum-seekers and irregular immigrants, including minors and other
vulnerable persons, and that it establish a mechanism to examine the frequent
detention of such persons. It recommends that the State party consider increasing the
use of non-custodial measures, use detention as a last resort and ensure that
administrative detention of unaccompanied children is not practised. The Committee
requests the State party to ensure that the Body of Principles for the Protection of All
Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment be applied to asylum-seekers
in administrative detention. In addition it would appreciate receiving information on
the number of asylum-seekers and irregular immigrants in detention, how frequently
they are detained and the average length of their detention.
18.
The Committee is concerned at the conditions and length of detention of asylumseekers and irregular immigrants at the detention unit for foreigners at Metsälä and the lack
of legal safeguards regarding the length of detention. It is also concerned that such persons
are detained not only in the Metsälä detention centre, which has a small capacity, but also
in police and border-guard detention facilities which are not suitable for holding persons
detained under legislation on aliens. The Committee is concerned that men and women are
held together in such facilities, that children are held with adults when families with
children are placed in migration-related detention and that a total of 54 children were
detained in 2010 under the Aliens Act (arts. 2 and 11).
The Committee recommends that steps be taken to increase the capacity of the
Metsälä detention centre or establish a new detention centre for foreigners. It also
recommends that the State party review the detention, including length, of asylumseekers, irregular immigrants and other foreigners in the Metsälä centre as well as in
police and border-guard detention facilities, provide them with fundamental legal
safeguards and set up a complaints mechanism regarding conditions of detention, and
use non-custodial measures.
19.
The Committee is also concerned at allegations concerning the rise in physical and
psychological ill-treatment of asylum-seekers and irregular immigrants, including their
harsh treatment by the police and other law enforcement authorities (arts. 10, 11 and 16).
The Committee recommends that the State party ensure that specialized training and
internal guidelines for police, border guards and other law enforcement authorities
make them aware of their obligations under human rights and refugee law so that
they may treat asylum-seekers in a more humane and culturally sensitive manner and
that perpetrators of ill-treatment are investigated, prosecuted and convicted.
Redress, including compensation and rehabilitation
20.
The Committee is concerned that, although persons are entitled to compensation
under the Act on Compensation from State Funds for the Arrest or Detention of an Innocent
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