Draft budget 2021: more refugees, fight against human trafficking

Finland's budget proposal for 2021 will include additional resources for combating human trafficking. To this end, a specialized anti-trafficking team will be established within the police, the Ministry of the Interior said in a press release.

An additional appropriation of 4.1 million euros is proposed in the 2021 budget proposal to increase the human resources of the police. The aim is to increase human resources in the fight against human trafficking, improve the police work in sparsely populated areas and in the combating of economic crime in the Greater Helsinki area.

The programme of Prime Minister Marin’s government includes a number of anti-trafficking measures, one of which is a team to be established within the police for detecting and investigating human trafficking offences.

“The team to be established will play a key role in the fight against human trafficking. It will strengthen the capabilities of the police to tackle this serious form of hidden crime and its consequences. The police will also have a better understanding of the different forms of human trafficking,” says Minister of the Interior Maria Ohisalo.

More quota refugees

According to the budget proposal, the number of quota refugees to be received by Finland will be raised by 200 to 1,050. The maximum number of quota refugees for 2020 had been set at 850.

The number of quota refugees is estimated annually, taking into account the total number of asylum seekers. 

“Raising the refugee quota is an important way of helping those fleeing war and persecution, and the most vulnerable refugees. This way, we can create safe and controlled routes for refugees to seek refuge and we carry our global responsibility,” says Minister Ohisalo.

Additional resources for police

Additional resources will be allocated to sparsely populated areas to secure police response times and the availability of police services. The increase in resources to combat the grey economy and economic crime in the Greater Helsinki area will also help to implement measures to combat the grey economy set out in the government programme. 

The budget proposal for 2021 will be submitted to Parliament in a government plenary session on Monday 5 October, so the figures presented today by the government may still change. They will become final after the government plenary session.