Refugees and migrants arrive by boat on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey on October 11, 2015. Greece was hit by a huge new surge in migrants as the United Nations on October 9 approved a European seize-and-destroy military operation against people smugglers in the Mediterranean. Photo AFP-LEHTIKUVA
Finland plans to increase its participation in the EU military management of the human trafficking crisis in the Mediterranean.
The plan was discussed at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Foreign and Security Policy with the President, Sauli Niinistö on Friday.
Finland is preparing its participation with a 10 person vessel inspection team to the Mediterranean, said deputy director general of the operative department of the naval staff Juha Tuominen.
The mandate calls for 20 soldiers in total, but Tuominen said that the whole number has not yet been called into service.
The vessel inspection department begins their operation at the end of November.
The mission currently has eight Finnish staff officers. At the meeting, the president and the cabinet also discussed the crisis in Ukraine, closer defense cooperation between Finland and Sweden, as well as the situation in Syria, Iraq and Turkey.
Finland is also participating in an international effort to combat the extremist organisation ISIS, for example, by training security forces in northern Iraq.
