Current affairs

The actions through which the global campaign will promote gender equality in technology and innovations will be announced on a virtual forum held in Mexico. Finland holds a lead role in this work. The forum will be attended by Prime Minister Sanna Marin and Minister for Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Ville Skinnari.

More than 200 million people across the globe need humanitarian assistance due to conflicts, natural disasters and the COVID-19 pandemic. The provision of humanitarian assistance is one of the most concrete ways of responding to crises and disasters. Finland grants a total of EUR 69.6 million to humanitarian work carried out by the UN organizations, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, and Finnish civil society organisations.

The sixty-fifth session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is taking place from 15th to 26th of March, 2021.

Joint Statement for the UN High-Level Meeting on Water, March 18th 2021, co-signed by 161 countries.

Read the statement by Finland on behalf of the Nordic countries at the Arria Formula Meeting on 'Ensuring the Full, Equal and Meaningful Participation of Women in UN-led Peace Processes' delivered by H.E. Mr. Jukka Salovaara, Permanent Representative of Finland to the UN on March 8th, 2021.

In 2020, the Unit for Consular Assistance provided nearly twice as much guidance compared to the previous year. In the spring, during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic, personal guidance and advice were given to tens of thousands of travellers stranded abroad. Thousands of travellers were assisted in returning to Finland after air traffic ground to a sudden halt.

Finland is seeking membership of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) in 2022–2024. The campaign slogan: ”A Diverse World, Universal Human Rights”, underscores the universal nature of human rights. The election will take place at the UN General Assembly in October 2021.

The UN published its annual report on the progress made in implementing the 2030 Agenda, in connection with the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF 2019).

The UN’s High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) will meet in New York between 9 and 18 July 2019. The purpose of the annual meeting is to review the progress made globally in achieving the objectives of the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Karolina Lång is a 24 year old law student studying her fifth year at the University of Helsinki. She has a diverse work background: she previously worked as a journalist in Hufvustadsbladet and Svenska Yle before the internship and has also been active in Nordic cooperation both as a youth delegate to the Nordic Council and the Nordic Council of Ministers and in Finland as a co-writer at a project for the Finnish Ministry of health and social affairs.