Current Affairs

At the presidential session on Friday 27 November, the President of the Republic appointed a new Head of Mission to the Permanent Representation of Finland to the European Union and decided on an authorisation to represent Finland in Azerbaijan.

More and more false and harmful information is deliberately disseminated especially in electronic information networks. The intentions behind dissemination of disinformation are varied: to undermine faith in democratic institutions, to sow discord between population groups, to put blame on and discriminate against minorities, to silence researchers and journalists, to win elections, and to gain personal or economic benefit. Unfortunately, the list is long and expanding.

International community renews its long-term commitment to the people of Afghanistan with significant pledges at the conference. Afghanistan and international partners commit to shared development objectives for 2021–2024, and adopt a communique calling for an end to the war and a durable peace, stability and prosperity.

The new EU Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy 2020–2024 has approved last week. Finland actively participated in the negotiations and regards the Action Plan as a significant document steering the EU’s common foreign and security policy.

The civil society statement sets out a demand for peace in Afghanistan against a backdrop of the deaths of 100,000 civilians having been killed or injured in the last ten years and, more recently, a campaign of assassinations targeted at journalists, human rights workers, religious scholars and civil society activists.

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Mariano Grossi will visit Finland on 24–26 November at the invitation of Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto and Minister of Economic Affairs Mika Lintilä. While in Helsinki, Director General Grossi will also discuss with Minister for Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Ville Skinnari and President of the Republic Sauli Niinistö.

Finnish Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto and Minister for Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Ville Skinnari will travel Geneva to lead the 2020 Afghanistan Conference to be held on 23–24 November. Finland has co-organised the conference together with the Afghan Government and the United Nations. Due to the COVID-19 restrictions, the international ministerial conference will be held virtually from Geneva.

Minister for Nordic Cooperation Thomas Blomqvist will attend an informal online meeting of Ministers for Nordic Cooperation on 23 November 2020.

The YouTuber’s second video on sustainable development compares the thoughts of young people from near and far, and tells how Finland promotes the goals of the 2030 Agenda abroad.

EU development ministers will gather to discuss debt sustainability and debt relief in partner countries on 23 November 2020. Minister for Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Ville Skinnari will represent Finland in the informal video conference.

The United Nations Children's Fund, UNICEF, and Finland are collaborating to create international policy guidance for the development and use of artificial intelligence (AI) that affects children.

Finland allocates EUR 3.1 million to Finnish civil society organisations’ projects that are implemented in response to the humanitarian needs caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has exacerbated ongoing humanitarian crises and forced new regions and population groups to seek emergency relief.

The 2020 Afghanistan Conference, co-organised by Finland, the United Nations and the Afghan Government, will be held on Monday and Tuesday, 23–24 November. The conference will take place in the middle of a historic peace process. Continuing support from the international community is needed to have a sustainable foundation for the peace process and to achieve peace. Finland’s representatives at the conference will be Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto and Minister for Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Ville Skinnari. Due to the COVID-19 restrictions, the ministerial conference will be held virtually with Geneva as the hub of logistics.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to influence the entry permit services of the Finnish diplomatic missions abroad. All missions are not able to provide these services in the same way and to the same extent as in normal circumstances before the pandemic. The missions have been able to serve customers in questions related to entry matters in the countries where this has been possible taking into account health security and local official regulations. In this fall, the missions have been reopening their services as far as possible, and currently entry services are provided in most countries at least to a limited extent.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto will attend EU foreign ministers’ informal video conference on Thursday 19 November 2020. The items on the agenda will include multilateral cooperation and an exchange of views with Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Al-Malki.

Minister Skinnari will visit Oslo on 17–19 November 2020. Finland and Norway have strong and versatile bilateral relations. Both countries have a common will to further deepen their mutual cooperation. During his visit to Oslo, Minister Skinnari will particularly focus on the commercial and economic relations between the countries and topical regional and international issues.

The European Union — with its Member States — is the world’s largest funder of public development cooperation. However, this work is not always familiar to Finns. In this article series, we will introduce the EU development policy objectives and the Finns implementing them.

Welcome to a consultation on Finland’s Africa strategy on 20 November, 2020, at 14:00 – 15:30. The event will be online and open to all.

On Friday 13 November, the President of the Republic decided on one side-accreditation and one authorisation to represent Finland.

Concerns about the security of the internet and risks associated with emerging digital applications have increased in recent years. Misuse of artificial intelligence, for example through facial recognition technology or automated content moderation, may undermine the development of democracy and the rule of law and deteriorate the position of minorities, for example. The Freedom Online Coalition (FOC), an intergovernmental human rights organisation, explains the connection between artificial intelligence (AI) and human rights in its recently published statement.