Curiously, Finland's Foreign Ministry still dissuades Finnish citizens from visiting these countries due to security risks. Meanwhile, Daesh still holds key cities and vast swathes of territory in northern and western Iraq, which it seized in 2014. Only yesterday, a total of four explosions took 44 lives and injured over 90 in Iraq, which seems to have plunged deeper into chaos and sectarian violence.
Despite the significant drop in the flow of refugees, Finland is still struggling with the consequences of last year's immigration disaster. Over 2,500 asylum seekers have been reported missing from reception centers, Yle reported, citing the Central Criminal Police.
"This phenomenon seems to be a threat to Finland," she told Yle, expressing fear the runaways may have already left Finland, as the country lacks a mechanism to follow their path once they have been registered in a reception center.
"You won't be able to work, you won't be granted any support, you won't even be able to open a bank account. You won't really be able to live a normal life without papers," she told Yle.
This is not the first time asylum seekers have "evaporated" from European reception centers. Some 13 percent of all migrants who officially entered Germany in 2015 never turned up at the accommodation provided for them, Süddeutsche Zeitung reported in late February.
