Topic: Combating the Rise of Xenophobic Violence
Country: Finland
Delegate Name: Jessica Tillman
School: Fishers High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Finland position papers GLIMUN 2011 committees
Finland believes that in more recent years, xenophobic violence has risen throughout the world. Even though relations with other countries have improved, many people are still violent and hateful towards each other. This includes Finland itself. Ever since the 1930s, during the Great Depression, Finland enacted the Restricting Act of 1939 which kept foreigners and outside business to a minimum. Plus, immigrant affair responsibilities were turned over to the secret police, which saw foreigners as a threat to national security. Through all of this, Finnish people saw outsiders as people who were willing to take advantage of them at all possible costs, especially toward the Russians. But what most Finnish people believe is all just a misunderstanding of what has been told to them over the past century.
Finland would like the committee to know that everything possible is being done to try and help the people of Finland and people across the world conquer their fears. The country passed a law recently saying that the country would stay bilingual to keep the heritage strong and try to help others conquer their fears, because fear is what causes the most violence. Finland would also like to state that many people who fuel the xenophobic violence are people with power, and who want to keep it. In Finland, it is the secret police, because it has given them a profit of short-term benefits, self-censorship of media, and creates an antagonistic situation between immigrants and the rest of the population. In other countries, political leaders are fueling the violence to spread country wide panic, so that when everything settles down, the leader looks like a hero. In Finland’s opinion, the fact that such people would do such a thing is very saddening. This needs to be stopped right away. Power hungry people should not be the ones to rule a country. That should be left to the people that care.
Finland proposes that the committee find credible sources about those who are corrupted and want to keep their power. By taking them out of their position, then the crime and violence should calm down because there is nothing to fuel the fire. When the violence settles down, then money could go to the United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees (UNHCR) to spread about to those who have been affected by the past violence in the area and/or country. In doing this, many more people will get the aid that they need, food and water, shelter, and the feeling of safety that they know no one will be after them in the morning. By creating a better world for those people to live in, it could calm down violence and help people get over irrational fears, causing less violence and more aid.
