HELSINKI - The Finnish Government decided on November 17 that Finland will take ten asylum seekers rescued by the rescue vessel Ocean Viking that docked in France.

 Priority will be given to vulnerable asylum seekers. France has accepted 238 people rescued by the Ocean Viking. The Ocean Viking is one of the three vessels carrying people rescued at sea, which first tried to land on the coast of Italy.

 This is the first time that a rescue ship operating in the Mediterranean has docked in France. France has requested other countries, Finland among them, to take some of the rescued migrants. Voluntary relocation of asylum seekers is included in the solidarity measures which the Member States have decided to adopt under reforms to the EU asylum system.

 Finland has experience of receiving asylum seekers who have been relocated within the EU. The Ministry of the Interior, in cooperation with the Finnish Immigration Service, will later establish a more exact timetable for the relocations and the individuals to be relocated. The Finnish Immigration Service and the Finnish Security and Intelligence Service will check the backgrounds of the individuals before they are relocated to Finland. The actual asylum process will start when the asylum seekers arrive in Finland.

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