Combating Parallel Societies

Finland’s Integration Programme 2024-2027

Karl Balloch

Finland’s integration programme 2024-2027 outlines the need to prevent development of parallel societies. Now policymakers, human rights organizations and immigrants themselves are paying close attention to the issue of a cluster of immigrants living in one place.

Finland’s intention is not to monitor immigrants with certain backgrounds, but to make sure that refugees and immigrants have all opportunities to get on the pathway of becoming a part of everyday life in Finland without sacrificing their own cultural and religious identities and belongings. Finland does not desire assimilation, it pursues this positive idea that inclusion happens naturally when things get easier to move away from assembling in the same locality or streets.

• The main reason for immigrants to cluster in a single place could be inability to get familiar with new people, culture and way of life.
• If you convert unfamiliarity into familiarity, people are welcome enough to get involved with the host community.

A Pathway to A Supportive Community

Finland’s Integration Programme 2024-2027 is easy, it’s practical; it has a starting point. The idea is that immigrants integrate as best they can if they have the tools, knowledge and resources to fit well with their new home.

Language

• Language is the most useful medium to interact with native Finnish or Swedish speakers.
• When you enter Finland try to speak Finnish or Swedish that is spoken in your immediate neighbourhood.
• Local language skills enable immigrants to handle the essential tasks in their daily lives, which may be making friends at work, making friends with neighbours or assisting children with their studies.
• Here language learning is not something to force on immigrants but rather this opportunity to pro-actively initiate and open the door toward independence and immersion in the host community.

Employment

• Employment is just that, an opportunity to get involved with all sorts of people from all various backgrounds.
• It is also the foundation of independence and self-sufficiency.
• Instead of assigning cities and streets where immigrant families may live or imposing population restrictions, Finland is pouring money straight into internships, job-seeking services and training courses.
• It is observed that a big number of job-seeking immigrants often stay within a circle of their friends and acquaintances for a much longer time after coming to Finland and find it hard to get employment because of lack of networking.

Finland acknowledges that integration does not happen at the same speed for everyone. But there is hope that children, parents and young adults will receive personalized support according to the whole-family integration model through Finland’s Integration Programme 2024–2027.

• Whether it be childcare, school guidance, parenting coaching, or youth activities.
• It helps to combat the psychological and inferior feelings and depression that can be created when some family members move forward and other members feel left behind.

Civic Orientation

Civic orientation and cultural sensitivity as part of the program as well. Newcomers are provided clear descriptions of the Finnish values of honesty, equality, punctuality, social transparency and everyday expectations. This approach has always been framed as a means for immigrants to adapt on their way to their new country.

It is nothing to do with forced withdrawal from one’s own culture, and more about finding a peaceful, and conforming society through which to grow up in harmony.

Cooperation, Not Coercion

Finland’s Integration Programme 2024–2027 as a model, different from other countries, in this context, is its commitment to collaboration and teamwork with concerned parties. Finland encourages municipalities, non-government organizations, schools and immigrant communities to join together to their own solutions.

• Finland rejects coercive mechanisms to combat parallel societies.
• Unlike Denmark, there is no forced relocation, no ethnic quotas based on ethnicity, no neighborhood-based penalty based on crime rates and statistics.
• This is very much in contrast to the strictest measures it had placed on Denmark with the Copenhagen Model, which were criticised by human rights organizations and also by the Advocate General of the Court of Justice of the European Union for measures like “ghetto” categorization, targeted compulsory pre-school days, demolished private residences, etc.
• The CJEU added, “it violates the EU’s race discrimination law.”

Why Parallel Societies have Negative Effects On Host Community

World and even the supporters of immigrants are concerned about emergence of parallel societies because in practice:

• When and if immigrants form communities, too many of them become disconnected from the host community.
• Second, one location immigrants with a single cluster limit the regular opportunity or contact with the native people.
• This creates a delay in learning the language of native speakers.
• Socially, forming parallel societies reduces chances to learn social etiquette and everyday habits that shape life in Finland.

However, not having direct knowledge on the other side of the same society and also social separation offer limited exposure to local norms. It is obvious in such situations misunderstanding arise when dealing in public offices and conflicts arising in schools and gender equality matters.

Additionally:

• As a result, developing friendships across racial, religious and cultural lines become rare, and trust between communities weakens over time.
• Moreover, once a “parallel society” earns a derogatory nickname such as “no-go zones,” “Sharia Zones,”,and labeled as “segregated enclave.” that widen the gap between communities.
• Then no one will be willing to invest in an “excluded” place and job-opportunity will shrink for common residents even, and committing crimes will become obvious.

Stigma turns difficulty into adversity

One ethnic or cultural group clustering in a neighborhood provides an opportunity for opponents to portray all immigrants unfairly. Meanwhile, individuals, particularly young people and women inside such enclaves or segregated societies may feel pressure to follow old traditions, potentially restricting their personal freedom which the law of the land has offered them.

Parallel Societies Effects on The Host Society

So the host society gets affected from the consequences of reduced communication, increased suspicion or steady decline into interactions with different people groups living in the country.

• Parallel societies causes integration more challenging and emotional over time and is difficult for everyone:
• The communication gap creates a disconnect of misunderstanding and division among different ethnic groups who live under the same community as well.

Looking Ahead

Finland’s integration programme 2024–2027 presents a clear and optimistic goal, and can serve as a model for all EU countries to follow.

• That goal in particular is to build a society where everyone, from any background, can live in places, have the same opportunities, and develop a sense of belonging to the host community.
• The point, I have said before, is not to erase cultural differences but rather get them to blossom within a stable, harmonious community.

Finland’s integration programme has a simple message:
Belonging cannot be forced, but it can be nurtured through adaptability to a changing social atmosphere.
I’ve always believed that pushing for true inclusion benefits everybody involved. We end up with a culture that’s alive with new ideas, an economy that’s more robust, and mutual relationships that run deeper than ever.