Finland Times

 

The government has updated Finland's National Strategy for Civilian Crisis Management on the basis of Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen's government programme to strengthen further Finland’s readiness to participate in civilian crisis management.

 

According to a press release of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs issued on Friday, the government adopted the update of the National Strategy for Civilian Crisis Management on 10 April 2014.

 

The civilian crisis management is part of the range of tools by which Finland takes part in the efforts to prevent spread of crises and their impacts. 

 

The strategy comprises the vision for Finnish civilian crisis management, and defines the goals for further enhancement of Finnish participation and the development of the resources and competence for civilian crisis management.

 

Civilian crisis management is part of Finnish foreign and security policy. The civilian crisis management tasks can include support, monitoring, consultation and training tasks or, for example, executive tasks within the police sector. Civilian crisis management also promotes prevention and management of cross-border security threats.

 

In recent years, the focus of Finnish civilian crisis management has been in Afghanistan, Kosovo, and Georgia. An increasing number of Finnish experts have been participating in the EU Border Assistance Mission (EUBAM) in Libya, which is an EU civilian crisis management mission in Libya. 

 

Ukraine will be a new important country in civilian crisis management. At the moment, there are five Finnish experts involved in the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, established three weeks ago.

 

The update of the National Strategy for Civilian Crisis Management takes account of the changes that have taken place in the international operating environment, including entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon.