The President of Finland Sauli Niinistö gave a speech in English on behalf of his country in the United Nations general assembly on Tuesday. As main talking points the president raised the crises in Syria and Ukraine and the Europe-wide humanitarian catastrophe.
Niinistö said that as a result of war and conflicts there are some 60 million refugees in the world, more than ever since the Second World War.
Countries neighbouring the conflict zones must shoulder the greatest burden, Niinistö spoke, but also underlined the serious political tension the crisis is creating in Europe.
"But failing to help is not an option for us," he said, speaking on behalf of long-term political solutions to be reached by uniting the resources of the UN and neighbouring countries. The president also said that Finland is "committed" to taking action against the terror propagated by the Islamist State.
In terms of the crisis in Ukraine Niinistö said that the Minsk Protocol would be the best basis for a peace roadmap and that all illegal political action must not go uncondemned.
Support for UN and female Secretary-General
President Niinistö also said that Finland is the second most important country in terms of population taking part in UN peacekeeping operations, and vowed to increase Finland's peacekeeping share.
Current UNSG Ban Ki-moon's five-year term ends in the end of 2016, and with this in mind the Finnish president said that strong political leadership is always required of the Secretary-General especially when international consensus proves difficult to achieve. He then proposed that the next person to hold the office should be a woman. There have been no female Secretary-Generals of the United Nations.