Law about military crisis management makes it possible for Finland to participate more flexibly and effectively
Press release 264/2005
6 September, 2005
It was particularly the resolutions made in the European Union for development of more effective and rapid crisis management capabilities that gave the incentive for a comprehensive reform of the Finnish peacekeeping legislation. The new law concerning military crisis management is an answer to the goal to clarify Finnish participation in military crisis management, so that the legislation would not impose too limiting or inflexible conditions for participation already in advance.
Thus the new law provides the foundations for full-fledged Finnish participation in the EU military crisis management, and, at the same time, the Finnish legislation is reformed to comply with the practices followed, for instance, by the other Nordic Countries. In the future, particularly the EU military crisis management will become one of the focal points of Finnish participation, but Finland will also continue to participate similarly in UN-commanded crisis management operations.
Even in the new law, the basic premise for Finnish participation is the mandate granted by the UN Security Council for use of military force. Exceptionally, in the future Finland could choose to participate even when such a mandate does not exist. Such a situation might become topical, if military crisis management was necessary, but the Security Council were unable to respond to the situation by a resolution granting a mandate. When there is no Security Council mandate for a military operation, Finland has to submit the resolution to participate to the whole Finnish Parliament. However, when an operation has been mandated by the Security Council, only the Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee would be heard in the decision-making.
The new rapid deployment forces of the European Union, in which Finland is taking part, also call for speeding up our national decision-making processes, as well as establishment of preliminary military readiness. Also this has been taken into account in the new law. Within the EU framework, we have approved to be ready for military intervention also in cases in which the goal is to separate the conflicting parties, i.e. enforcement of peace, or at least a truce. Also in a case like this, when deciding about Finland’s participation, the contribution of the whole Parliament is required.
In addition, the new law includes a number of provisions concerning training, compensations, rewards, and different obligations of the soldiers participating in crisis management. It is extremely important that the new law also describes the rights of the soldiers carrying out crisis management tasks to use force. As far as this part of the law is concerned, the legislation will now comply with the requirements of the revised Finnish criminal legislation.
The reform of the peacekeeping law was well-grounded even against the background that a new law concerning civilian crisis management entered force in the beginning of the year. With introduction of the law concerning military crisis management, the judicial basis for both sectors is now up to date. Even in the future, Finland will continue to emphasise the importance of developing civilian crisis management by the side of military measures, as well as application of a comprehensive approach to crisis management.
Additional information: Under Secretary of State Markus Lyra, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, tel. +358 9 160 55030, and Director for Public Policy Jyrki Iivonen, Ministry of Defense, tel. +358 9 160 88200