Feature: Finland employs 'welfare' approach in combating violent extremism

Finland has accentuated societal pre-emptive actions in combating violent extremism. A chief police officer said the extensive preventive work is in line with the Nordic country's history as a welfare state.

In an interview with Xinhua, Chief of Secretariat of Internal Security Tarja Makkinen said the five Nordic countries have developed a policy targeting young people.

The policy featured an action program named EXIT, which gives practical aid to people who want to disengage themselves from extremist networks.

While police investigation and intelligence gathering continue to play a key role, the approach is to get civic organizations involved.

The Finnish EXIT program is a new version of a Danish solution applied in Copenhagen, Aarhus and some other Danish cities.

A small team has worked a couple of years in Helsinki and similar operation is being expanded to other Finnish cities. Such a team comprises a social worker, a youth worker, a psychiatric nurse and a police officer.

The municipalities are encouraged to train teachers, child welfare and mental health specialists to be able to recognize the signs of getting radicalized. Teachers are considered to be in a key position to tackle the matter, if changes in attitudes and behaviors are noticed in a classroom.

Makkinen said the newly adopted policy was reflected in an agreement signed between the security authorities of all five Nordic countries last week.

The five countries, namely Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Iceland, are quite similar in society and legislation, she noted. The countries agreed to promote development of joint policies and exchange of results.

Finnish borders are open in the South to Estonia and in the west to Sweden, but the Nordic route via Sweden is the prime channel for extremists to reach Finland, said Makkinen.

According to the authorities, 50 Finnish residents have joined fighting in Syria in the past few years. Among them, a small number are of Finnish extraction.

Recent media reports said about 20 ethnically Finnish fighters have been involved in the Islamic extremism, but the Finnish police said the actual number was less than reported. The known fighters leaving Finland to take part in battles represented 18 ethnic backgrounds, the police said.

On the administrative side, Finnish parliament last December gave the police the right to access cross border travelers' records maintained by ships and airlines.

There are no official ID controls except on the border with Russia.

Major changes in domestic intelligence gathering still await decisions. The issues have been subject to disagreements from politicians and privacy advocates. Makkinen said she was not aware of any privacy issues affecting the newly enhanced Nordic cooperation.

The cooperation covers left and right wing violent political extremism, radical Islamism, and risks caused by solitary individuals.

Makkinen emphasized that extremism is primarily not a phenomenon associated with immigration. "There were elements of ideological extremism and hatred of people in the series of school shootings in Finland some years ago," she said.

"If these had taken place after the attacks in Norway in 2011, they would have been associated with the same phenomenon," she noted.

While neonazis and skinheads pose a main everyday risk in the streets, the biggest threat of terrorism comes from supporters of violent Islam in Finland, said Finnish interior ministry in its latest published analysis.

Moreover, the violence resulting in many fatalities is associated with solitary individuals. The country has witnessed school violence related to this factor in recent years.

An analysis of extremist violence is published twice a year at the Finnish interior ministry. Enditem