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1.2.2023 | Member of Parliament Suldaan Said Ahmed visited the Horn of Africa region in January. It was his third visit as Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto’s Special Representative on Peace Mediation. “Involving young people in peace processes and taking into account the diaspora from the region are important themes for me,” Said Ahmed says.

31.10.2022 | Finland has sent two international civil protection experts to Havana, Cuba, to support the training of local urban search and rescue personnel. Having identified a lack of expertise among Havana’s local authorities in conducting rescue from collapsed structures, Cuba requested international assistance to train urban search and rescue workers. The experts left Finland on Monday 31 October.

6.2.2023 | Finland is rapidly sending a team of experts to Türkiye to assist in rescue efforts following a major earthquake. The experts will be deployed through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism.

21.1.2022 | Core funding to international humanitarian organisations is a rapid and effective way to respond to sudden-onset natural disasters and protracted crises. Finland’s 27.5-million-euro funding will help UN agencies and the International Committee of the Red Cross ICRC to operate in areas where people need help, and to plan their operations flexibly.

6.9.2022 | Finland has sent an expert in international civil protection to Pakistan to assist in coordinating humanitarian aid related to monsoon floods. The expert left Finland on Tuesday 6 September.

3.1.2023 | The Finnish rescue services responded to about 100,700 emergency calls last year, of which about 66,600 were urgent. Of these calls, 11,856 were fires and 16,210 were traffic accidents. The total number of emergency calls was slightly lower than the average in preceding years. For example, in 2018–2020, the average number of emergency calls responded by the rescue services was over 107,000 a year.

9.3.2023 | Finns are once again actively travelling abroad. Over the years, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs has been reminding travellers of things to take into account when travelling abroad to make sure their trip runs as smoothly as possible.

15.2.2022 | The second year of the pandemic was busy for the consular assistance services provided by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Finland's missions abroad, and the number of customers continued to increase. In 2021, the Ministry and the missions abroad provided consular services to a total of 255,000 customers.

14.6.2022 | On 14–16 June 2022, Finland will serve for the second time in succession as president of the session of the Conference of States Parties (COSP) to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Representatives from more than 180 countries are expected to attend the conference in New York. A large number of representatives of civil society organisations and UN agencies, dedicated to promoting the rights of persons with disabilities, will also attend the conference.

5.9.2022 | Minister of the Interior Krista Mikkonen will attend a coordination meeting convened by the European Commission and the Czech Presidency of the Council of the EU on Monday 5 September. The meeting will discuss preparedness for wildfires caused by the climate crisis. The meeting will be attended by ministers responsible for the internal security in the EU Member States and senior officials.

26.3.2021 | More than 200 million people across the globe need humanitarian assistance due to conflicts, natural disasters and the COVID-19 pandemic. The provision of humanitarian assistance is one of the most concrete ways of responding to crises and disasters. Finland grants a total of EUR 69.6 million to humanitarian work carried out by the UN organizations, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, and Finnish civil society organisations.

22.11.2022 | Finland’s Ambassador for Climate Change Jan Wahlberg says that while the Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Egypt has been criticised for its weak results, progress was nevertheless made to help the world’s poorest countries stricken by climate disasters. Future conferences of the parties will decide on the structure of the fund and its sources of finance.

19.1.2023 | In 2022, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the missions abroad provided consular services to a total of approximately 256,000 customers. The demand for advisory services, in particular, continued to grow. During the year, the ministry’s 24/7 service received more than 8,000 contacts in total.

7.3.2023 | on March 7 2023 in Doha

19.8.2021 | Finland will provide EUR 3 million through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees UNHCR to help Afghan refugees. On the World Humanitarian Day celebrated today, the crises in Afghanistan and Haiti remind us of the global humanitarian distress.

29.7.2022 | By decision of the Ministry of the Interior, Finland is sending 50 rescue workers to Greece to help manage wildfires. The Emergency Services Academy is the employer of the posted experts.

9.11.2022 | Recent crises underline the importance of development cooperation as a key instrument of foreign and security policy, according to Finland’s Development Policy Results Report submitted to Parliament on 9 November.

14.4.2022 | The Ministry of the Interior has decided to send two experts to Poland and Slovakia to assist in coordinating the humanitarian assistance needed by people fleeing Ukraine. The experts left Finland on Wednesday evening. The Emergency Services Academy Finland is the employer of the posted experts.

8.2.2022 | The Ministry of the Interior has decided to send two experts to Madagascar, where tropical cyclone Batsirai has caused extensive damage due to heavy rains, strong wind and floods. Pelastusopisto – Emergency Services Academy Finland is the employer of the posted experts.

4.3.2022 | The Ministry of the Interior has decided to send three experts to Moldova to assist in coordinating the humanitarian assistance needed by people fleeing Ukraine. The experts left Finland on Friday morning.

26.11.2021 | Finland has received EU funding to build a rescue team for fighting forest fires. The European Commission granted co-financing for a joint project of the rescue departments of South Karelia, North Karelia, South Savo, North Savo and Kymenlaakso for the procurement of special equipment required for a rescue team fighting forest fires.

19.8.2022 | The number of people in need of assistance has more than doubled in a few years. Finland has responded to this need both financially and by improving the methods of delivering assistance.

2.2.2022 | EU home affairs ministers will gather in Lille, France, on 3 February for an Informal Meeting of Justice and Home Affairs Ministers. The ministers will discuss the security of Europe’s borders and the reform of the EU’s migration and asylum policy. Another topic on the agenda will be the impact of climate change on civil protection. No decisions will be made at the informal meeting.

4.5.2021 | The Ministry of the Interior has appointed an investigation commission to investigate a building fire in Kerimäki on 1 May 2021, where one member of a contract fire brigade was seriously injured.

22.4.2022 | International actors are focusing on life-saving measures in preparation for a conference on drought in the Horn of Africa arranged for 26 April. Half of the population of Somalia needs humanitarian support due to a drought affecting the entire country coupled with ongoing conflict.

2.12.2021 | The UN estimates that 274 million people will need humanitarian assistance in 2022. The needs are increasing, for example due to the escalation of conflicts in Afghanistan and Ethiopia. Finland will increase its support for the alleviation of human suffering in crisis areas, which is why Finland will raise its funding for humanitarian assistance to EUR 113 million this year.

13.9.2022 | In 2006–2022, the Rural Village Water Resources Management Project in the Far West regions of Nepal brought clean water to more than 600,000 people. At the same time, it promoted health and food security, advanced the rights of women and minorities, and improved economic livelihoods.

9.2.2022 | The final reports of the “Capacity of and planning criteria for rescue services and civil emergency preparedness” project have been published on the Institutional Repository for the Government (Valto). The objective of the project was to produce a basis for the national planning criteria for rescue services and investigate how well the resources and capacity of rescue services and civil emergency preparedness correspond to the operating environment, risks and customer needs. 

11.3.2021 | The Ministry of the Interior has decided to send two experts to Bata, Equatorial Guinea, where an explosion at a munitions depot has caused extensive destruction. Equatorial Guinea has requested international assistance in the rescue operations following the explosion accident. The Emergency Services Academy Finland will serve as the employer of the posted experts.

26.10.2021 | According to a recent survey, 68 per cent of Finns consider development cooperation very or fairly important. About a quarter of Finns say that their attitudes have become more negative recently. The majority believe that Finland’s development cooperation has improved the position of women and girls in Afghanistan over the past 20 years. The results are based on a survey carried out for the Foreign Ministry by Taloustutkimus.

26.2.2021 | The Ministry of the Interior has set up a project to reform the administration of rescue services. The project will prepare for the implementation of the rescue services reform by developing the national guidance system to meet the requirements of the reform. The goal is to transfer the responsibility for organising rescue services from municipalities to wellbeing services counties in a controlled manner.

15.10.2021 | Finland bears its responsibility as part of the climate finance pledge of the Paris Agreement. At the United Nations Climate Change Conference, Finland will announce support for adaptation measures in developing countries in particular. The COP26 United Nations Climate Change Conference will be held in Glasgow from 31 October to 12 November 2021.

17.5.2023 | Prime Minister Sanna Marin spoke at the New York University commencement in New York City on 17 May 2023.

18.6.2021 | Suomen tulee vaikuttaa ja ottaa nykyistä enemmän vastuuta globaalin ruokaturvan ja ruokajärjestelmän vahvistamisessa. Erityistä huomiota on kiinnitettävä kaikkein köyhimpien maiden ja haavoittuvimmissa tilanteissa elävien ihmisten ja ryhmien aseman parantamiseen. Tätä mieltä on Kehityspoliittisen toimikunnan KPT:n asiantuntijaryhmä, jonka analyysi ruokaturvan ja ruokajärjestelmien tulevaisuudesta julkaistiin perjantaina.

2.12.2022 | Prime Minister of Finland Sanna Marin spoke at the Lowy Institute in Sydney, on 2 December 2022. Check against delivery.

20.5.2021 | On Thursday 20 May, the Government adopted the Report on Internal Security and submitted it to Parliament for consideration. The objective of the Report is that Finland will be an even safer country for all people and population groups in the future.

2.12.2022 | Prime Minister of Finland Sanna Marin spoke at the Lowy Institute in Sydney, on 2 December 2022. Check against delivery.

13.9.2022 | Prime Minister Sanna Marin spoke at the plenary session of the European Parliament on Tuesday 13 September. Her visit was part of the “This is Europe” series of debates. Check against delivery.

3.3.2026 | Finland’s development cooperation has strengthened the sustainable use of forests and water, improved access to clean energy, and supported disaster risk management in several partner countries, according to a new independent evaluation. The evaluation assessed results in the environment and natural resources sectors from 2010 to 2024, as well as opportunities for private-sector collaboration.

30.3.2026 | Finland will grant two million euros in humanitarian assistance to the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR’s operation in Lebanon to support refugees and internally displaced persons.