Tuula Yrjölä appointed Head of OSCE Tajikistan office

Press release 143/2016
9 August 2016

Ambassador Tuula Yrjölä has been appointed Head of the Tajikistan Office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, OSCE. The appointment, which will become effective as of 1 October 2016, was made by Germany, the country holding the OSCE Chairmanship in 2016.

The mission of the OSCE Office in Tajikistan is to help the country in implementing OSCE commitments and to support it in reforms and conflict prevention.

The Tajikistan Office focuses on such questions as border security, counter terrorism work, and environmental protection. Important priorities in field operations are promotion of the rule of law, appraisal of the human rights situation, and reduction of violence against women. The headquarters of the largest OSCE field operation in Central Asia are located in Dushanbe. In addition, there are five field offices in the country. The total number of international and local posts in the field operation is 217.

Ambassador Yrjölä has more than 30 years of experience of the Foreign Service. At the moment she works as Finland's Ambassador in Cairo. She has previously served as Roving Ambassador for Central Asia and Head of the Unit for Eastern Europe and Central Asia. She has also held posts in the Finnish Embassies in New York, Moscow and Kiev.

This is the second high-level post Finland is holding in an OSCE field operation. Since last year, Nina Suomalainen has worked as Head of the OSCE Skopje field operation. One of Finland's key objectives is to increase the share of women in crisis management and related management roles.

Further information: Ambassador Katja Pehrman, Permanent Representative of Finland to the OSCE, tel. +43 676 848 350 350 (Austria) and Deputy Director General Timo Kantola, tel. +358 295 351 477.

For interviews with Tuula Yrjölä, please send email to [email protected]