Demonstration to abolish detention of migrants
Helsinki, Tuesday 15th Oct 2002

Since july 2002, the finnish authorities have been imprisoning refugees and migrants in the space of the Katajanokka Prison in Helsinki. The Katajanokka Prison itself was closed because its conditions were in breach of international regulations.

The new Katajanokka Detention Center means a prison for those who have a different ethnicity than that of the main population, a place where to intern people whose only "crime" is to be of the "wrong" nationality.

In Katajanokka the detained migrants are locked behind several doors, living in prison cells of 6-7 square meters, and under camera surveillance. There is also an enclosed "recreation area" which is much smaller than in ordinary prisons.

The nature of detention centres has become painfully clear around the world. They are closed and ignored spaces which offer the possibility of totally arbitrary detention. The conditions in detention centres breed not only an enormous despair, but also give cause to dangerous and violent situations: there has been an exceptionally large amount of suicides, deaths, confrontations and cases of disease in the centres. Also in Katajanokka detention center there have already been suicide and escape attempts.

Also children have been detained in Katajanokka.

It is obvious, that the practice of migration detention violates human dignity and general legal principles very fundamentally. Therefore we demand that the detention be abolished.

Detention centers have become contradictory symbols of a new age. At the same time when people move from a place to another more than ever before, the prevailing juridical structures cannot meet this obvious human need. In our view, the answer to people's need for movement cannot be a prison or an internment center, neither the deaths of thousands in hopeless attempts to cross borders.

HUMAN RIGHTS CANNOT DEPEND ON PEOPLE'S ORIGIN. We demand that the detention of foreigners be abolished.