THE ALIENS ACT

/ULKOMAALAISLAKI

2009

Helsinki, inside tram #6.

During one hour, she read out loud for all the tram passengers random excerpts of the Aliens Act – the part of the Finnish Law concerning any person staying in Finland without having Finnish Citizenship. In the beginning this text says its purpose is: to implement and promote good governance, and legal protection in matters concerning aliens, to promote managed immigration and provision of international protection with respect for human rights and basic rights, in consideration of international agreements binding on Finland.

This law involves matters such as employment, visas, residence permits, deportation, refugee status and trafficking in human beings.

There is no official translation of the text, meaning that such law can only be applied in Finnish or Swedish languages. A foreign who doesn’t have neither of those as mother tongues will possibly face difficulties. A person will not completely or directly access a content that strictly relates to him or her, which is subject to the subtleties typical of law texts,  and that mainly sounds absurd.

These conflict is disclosed when a foreign living in Finland is reading the Aliens Act, in Finnish – a law that directly affects her life, in a language that she does not speak or understand, which is obvious through her wrong spelling.