France called on its fellow EU members after a coordinated series of attacks in Paris left over 130 people dead last November. Never used before, the EU’s mutual defence clause Article 42-7 calls on member states to provide aid and assistance to a country that is victim of an armed aggression.
Finland’s contribution to the effort will see a new stock of soldiers participating in the United National Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) peacekeeping operation from April 2017 to August 2018. This addition will free up French troops from the joint reserve battalion for use for other purposes.
Finland already has a presence in Lebanon of about 300 peacekeepers, although about half of them will leave in November 2016, when leadership of the programme will be transferred from Finland to Ireland.
The UNIFIL operation was created by the United Nations in 1978 to confirm Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon after an invasion. There have been several border clashes and confrontations between the two countries since that date, the most recent in 2010. UNIFIL activities have since centred on monitoring military activity between Hezbollah and the Israeli Defence Forces, with the aim of reducing tensions.
Fulfilling the EU clause required a statutory amendment, as the framework of Finnish law had not previously allowed for military assistance in this way. The law was changed accordingly in early June.
Pulling out of Somalia and Kashmir
The committee also decided on Friday that Finland would end its participation in Operation Atalanta, or EUNAVFOR Somalia, a military operation off the Horn of Africa first undertaken by the European Union Naval Force. Finland had been a part of the counter-piracy operations there since 2008.
The Finns will also end their presence in the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan as of March 2017, a UN programme monitoring observance of the ceasefire between India and Pakistan in the State of Jammu and Kashmir. Finland peacekeepers have participated in the UNMOGIP operation since 1961.