Finland Times

 

File Photo Lehtikuva.

Finnish peacekeepers can be prohibited from consuming alcohol during missions, reported the Finnish language newspaper Keskisuomalainen.

 

According to the current regulation, it is permissible to drink not more than two mild rounds of alcohol at once during less frantic missions.

 

However, in high-intensity operations such as in Chad, the zero alcohol policy has already been introduced.

 

According to the newspaper, alcohol abuse was the reason behind more than half of service offences committed by peacekeepers last year.

 

A total of 71 offences were committed of which 39 were connected to alcohol abuse.

 

“Alcohol has been kept in places which breach the provisions such as in accommodation facilities. There have also been consequences in cases when more than the maximum permitted level of alcohol has been consumed,” military lawyer Osku Eskelinen from the Army headquarters told the newspaper.

 

Peacekeepers are recalled home every year prematurely due to alcohol violations.