Current affairs

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs has appointed Reetta Purontakanen to serve as a temporary Press Counsellor at the Embassy of Finland in Tokyo, Japan. The three-year term will start on 22 October 2020.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs has granted EUR 25 million in project support to Finnish civil society organisations (CSOs), which will conduct development cooperation projects in developing countries in 2021–2024. Project support was granted to 36 CSOs for the implementation of 62 projects in 28 different countries.

Finland has been selected to join Generation Equality, a UN initiative to boost the achievement of gender equality goals worldwide. Finland will be a member of the Action Coalition responsible for the promotion of technology and innovation.

Finland has committed EUR 2 million to support Iraq’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The support is part of Finland’s development cooperation carried out in Iraq. The funds will be channelled to Iraq via the Funding Facility for Stabilization (FFS), administered by UNDP.

The European Committee of Social Rights stated in its decision published on 29 June that the measures to reduce the gender pay gap have not been sufficiently effective in Finland when measured by the gender pay gap in the whole labour market. The Committee also considered that the legal remedies available in Finland are not sufficient in a situation where a person is dismissed as a countermeasure to the requirement of equal pay, because the Finnish law does not require the reinstatement of employment.