An Ambiguous Ban on Ethnic Profiling<subtitle>Reforming Immigration Law Enforcement at the Juncture of Non-Discrimination Norms and Migration Control</subtitle>

The article examines a reform of internal immigration policing in Finland. It discusses the public debate on ethnic profiling and the legal reform process of regulating immigration law enforcement by the Finnish government from 2013 to 2015 through an analysis of official documents and media coverag...

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Main Author: Markus Himanen
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Scandinavian University Press (Universitetsforlaget) 2022-01-01
Series:Nordic Journal of Studies in Policing
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.idunn.no/doi/10.18261/njsp.8.2.5
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author Markus Himanen
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author_sort Markus Himanen
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description The article examines a reform of internal immigration policing in Finland. It discusses the public debate on ethnic profiling and the legal reform process of regulating immigration law enforcement by the Finnish government from 2013 to 2015 through an analysis of official documents and media coverage. The reform included elements of both criminalisation of migration and human rights protections. The Finnish government added a ban on ethnic profiling in the Aliens Act. At the same time, it gave the police and the border guard more powers to conduct identity checks on foreign citizens. The paper argues that regulation and practices of immigration policing are affected by power positions of different national actors and the nature of public debate. The presence of ethnic minorities and representatives of civil society during the policy process and public discussions on ethnic and racial profiling in Finland was negligible. Both immigration policing and immigration law enforcement policy-making risk repeating formally equal patterns that are, in practice, biased.
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spelling doaj.art-5b13134d4c5947f0adf550b6002112312022-12-22T02:25:47ZengScandinavian University Press (Universitetsforlaget)Nordic Journal of Studies in Policing2703-70452022-01-018211810.18261/njsp.8.2.5An Ambiguous Ban on Ethnic Profiling<subtitle>Reforming Immigration Law Enforcement at the Juncture of Non-Discrimination Norms and Migration Control</subtitle>Markus HimanenThe article examines a reform of internal immigration policing in Finland. It discusses the public debate on ethnic profiling and the legal reform process of regulating immigration law enforcement by the Finnish government from 2013 to 2015 through an analysis of official documents and media coverage. The reform included elements of both criminalisation of migration and human rights protections. The Finnish government added a ban on ethnic profiling in the Aliens Act. At the same time, it gave the police and the border guard more powers to conduct identity checks on foreign citizens. The paper argues that regulation and practices of immigration policing are affected by power positions of different national actors and the nature of public debate. The presence of ethnic minorities and representatives of civil society during the policy process and public discussions on ethnic and racial profiling in Finland was negligible. Both immigration policing and immigration law enforcement policy-making risk repeating formally equal patterns that are, in practice, biased.http://www.idunn.no/doi/10.18261/njsp.8.2.5Ethnic profilingethnic and racial discriminationimmigration controlpolicinghuman rights
spellingShingle Markus Himanen
An Ambiguous Ban on Ethnic Profiling<subtitle>Reforming Immigration Law Enforcement at the Juncture of Non-Discrimination Norms and Migration Control</subtitle>
Nordic Journal of Studies in Policing
Ethnic profiling
ethnic and racial discrimination
immigration control
policing
human rights
title An Ambiguous Ban on Ethnic Profiling<subtitle>Reforming Immigration Law Enforcement at the Juncture of Non-Discrimination Norms and Migration Control</subtitle>
title_full An Ambiguous Ban on Ethnic Profiling<subtitle>Reforming Immigration Law Enforcement at the Juncture of Non-Discrimination Norms and Migration Control</subtitle>
title_fullStr An Ambiguous Ban on Ethnic Profiling<subtitle>Reforming Immigration Law Enforcement at the Juncture of Non-Discrimination Norms and Migration Control</subtitle>
title_full_unstemmed An Ambiguous Ban on Ethnic Profiling<subtitle>Reforming Immigration Law Enforcement at the Juncture of Non-Discrimination Norms and Migration Control</subtitle>
title_short An Ambiguous Ban on Ethnic Profiling<subtitle>Reforming Immigration Law Enforcement at the Juncture of Non-Discrimination Norms and Migration Control</subtitle>
title_sort ambiguous ban on ethnic profiling subtitle reforming immigration law enforcement at the juncture of non discrimination norms and migration control subtitle
topic Ethnic profiling
ethnic and racial discrimination
immigration control
policing
human rights
url http://www.idunn.no/doi/10.18261/njsp.8.2.5
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