Date when decision was rendered: 19.2.1988

Judicial body: Supreme Administrative Court = Högsta förvaltningsdomstolen = Korkein hallinto-oikeus

Reference: Report No. 673; 5038/7/87

Reference to source

KHO 1988-A-49.

Yearbook of the Supreme Administrative Court 1988 A, General Part

Högsta förvaltningsdomstolens årsbok 1988 A, allmän del

Korkeimman hallinto-oikeuden vuosikirja 1988 A, yleinen osa

Place of publication: Helsinki

Publisher: The Supreme Administrative Court

Date of publication: 1989

Pages: pp. 99-104

Subject

aliens, deported persons, refugee status, criminality, respect for family life, political parties,
utlänningar, deporterade personer, flyktingstatus, brottslighet, respekt för familjeliv, politiska partier,
ulkomaalaiset, karkotetut henkilöt, pakolaisen oikeusasema, rikollisuus, perhe-elämän kunnioittaminen, poliittiset puolueet,

Relevant legal provisions

Sections 12, 18, 21 of the Aliens Act

= utlänningslag 12 §, 18 §, 21 §

= ulkomaalaislaki 12 §, 18 §, 21 §.

Articles 1 and 32 of the Convention on the Status of Refugees

Abstract

The applicant had arrived in Finland from Namibia in 1979 with a three-year scholarship from the Department for Development Cooperation of the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs.His last residence permit expired in 1987.According to his statement, he was a former member of the SWAPO liberation movement in Namibia.SWAPO therefore did not support the renewal of his passport.While in Finland in 1982, he received a Travel and Identity Document issued by the UN Council for Namibia, with a right to return to Zambia, which was in force until December 1988.

After his training ended in 1982, he studied and worked for other employers, but later became unemployed.He also married a Finn, with whom he had two children.He had a third child with another person in Finland.

In 1987, the Ministry of the Interior decided to deport him to Zambia on the basis of section 18 of the Aliens' Act, immediately after he had served a prison sentence of a total of 8 months and 20 days for several smaller crimes, and to prohibit his return to the country for an unspecified time on the basis of section 21 of the Aliens' Act.The applicant was unemployed, failed to pay child support, used alcohol abundantly, used his money on different games and continuously committed small crimes.According to the Ministry, he had not adjusted to Finnish society, and thus was a threat to it.In Zambia, the applicant would probably be placed in a refugee camp.

The applicant objected to the deportation, claiming that he was a de facto political refugee, as he had been granted refugee status by the UNHCR, and that his life and health would be in danger if he was deported to southern Africa.

The Supreme Administrative Court stated that the applicant had grounded reasons to fear persecution both in his home country Namibia and in Zambia, the country to which he had a right to return.It had not been shown that he would have been granted asylum in any country.He should thus be considered as a refugee lawfully residing in Finland who could not be deported on the grounds mentioned in the decision of the Ministry of the Interior.According to section 18 of the Aliens' Act and Articles 1 and 32 of the Convention on the Status of Refugees, an alien or refugee can only be deported on the grounds of national security or public order and security, or when convicted of a particularily serious offence.None of these grounds were present in the case.The Supreme Administrative Court therefore quashed the decision of the Ministry of the Interior.

3.4.1998 / 11.4.2007 / RHANSKI