An increasing number of crisis management operations are in Africa, and Finland should also increase its participation on the continent, a cross-party parliamentary committee outlines in a report published on Wednesday.
There is a significant reason to increase Finland's participation in crisis management especially in Africa, according to the crisis management committee's chairman Johanna Sumuvuori (Green) said at the report's launch. Sumuvuori is also Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto's (Green) State Secretary.
The crisis management committee seeks a common vision and co-operation between all political parties.
Finland has traditionally emphasised that it participates in operations that aim to make Europe's immediate vicinity safer. The committee believes participation in crisis management in the immediate vicinity of Europe is crucial.
Haavisto stated that comprehensive crisis management is needed in the Sahel region and Mali, for example. His views were also backed by other MPs in a foreign and security police report, published last year.
According to the report, conflicts on the African continent have an effect in Finland and Europe.
Africa is a constantly evolving continent, but there is also potential for problems to grow there. The crisis management report considers issues such as climate change, population growth, poor governance, lack of future prospects, migration and terrorism to be risk factors.
Very few Finnish troops currently stationed across the world
There are currently only 360 Finnish soldiers stationed across the globe, which is the smallest number since the 1970s, with the exception of 2011. At the start of the millennium, there were as many as 2,000 Finnish soldiers in operations across the world.
Most Finnish soldiers are currently stationed in the Middle East, where Finland participates in conflict resolution operations in Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan, for example. Of these, Lebanon’s missions are under the UN flag, while the Iraqi OIR-operation is an international, U.S.-led alliance, and the Afghanistan operation is led by NATO.
Internationally, however, the focus has shifted to Africa, where eight out of the United Nations' 13 operations are currently active.
Less than a tenth of Finnish soldiers are stationed on the African continent. Around a fifth of Finland's civilian crisis management personnel are working on EU and UN operations in Mali and Somalia.