Foreign Ministry's press releases

The Finnish Government decided at an extraordinary meeting on 15 August that Finland can admit a maximum of 40 additional current and former Afghan employees and their families. The decision adds to the Government’s decision of 13 August to admit 130 persons to Finland. This means that 170 persons can be relocated from Afghanistan to Finland.

In response to the rapidly deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan, the Finnish Government decided at an extraordinary meeting on 13 August that Afghans who have worked for Finland, the EU and NATO can be admitted to Finland with their families and issued residence permits.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Europe Forum Turku have agreed on a partnership in which the Ministry for Foreign Affairs will support the annual Europe Forum over the period of 2021-2023. The joint aim of the partners is to promote a high-quality, versatile and interesting EU debate.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto will meet Jordanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ayman Safadi in Helsinki on 3 August.

Adopted in June 2013, Protocol No. 15 to the European Convention on Human Rights will enter into force on 1 August 2021. Its entry into force will reduce the application period to four months and also introduce other changes to the right to submit applications to the European Court of Human Rights. The shorter application period is, however, subject to a transition period, which ends on 1 February 2022.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs has granted EUR 17 million to international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) for 2021–2024. The support was granted to five organisations for their work on promoting sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHRs) worldwide, and especially in Afghanistan, and for strengthening tax transparency in sub-Saharan Africa.

Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi today in Chengdu, Southwest China, and held discussions with him on bilateral issues, EU-China relations and some key international questions.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto will visit China on 24–25 July. Meeting will take place in the capital of Sichuan province, Chengdu.

On Friday 16 July 2021, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs repatriated two Finnish children and their mother from Roj camp in northeast Syria. All three persons are Finnish citizens. The children are under school age. They are now in the care of competent Finnish authorities.

On 13 July 2021, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) issued a decision, which annuls the Court’s previous judgment concerning Finland in the case of N.A. v. Finland relating to the return of an asylum-seeker to Iraq in its entirety.