The long-standing commitment of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden to international development has rooted them firmly as leaders in international development assistance. They are strong advocates on human rights issues––addressing inequalities between and within countries––and have forward thinking policies for social development and health.

By decision taken by Minister for International Development Heidi Hautala on 15 March, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs has granted its humanitarian assistance funds for the first part of the year, totalling EUR 39.8 million, to people suffering from the world’s crises. This time, Finland targets humanitarian assistance to Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Earlier this year, EUR 3.5 million was already granted for the acute needs of the Syrian crisis.

On 30 January, UNESCO Director-General, Irina Bokova, and His Excellency Mr. Antti Kuosmanen, Ambassador and Permanent Delegate of Finland to UNESCO, signed an agreement by which Finland will contribute 2.3 million Euros to support UNESCO’s activities in the field of freedom of expression in Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia and Yemen.

The exercise organized on 27 and 28 November to evaluate the functioning of the Tsunami Warning System for the North East Atlantic, Mediterranean and Adjacent Seas has taken place as scheduled. This real-time simulation, based on four scenarios in which earthquakes provoked tsunamis in different regions, demonstrated that the communication system for sending and receiving alert messages to concerned national authorities, worked smoothly.

A simulated tsunami will strike the western and eastern coasts of the Mediterranean Sea and the North East Atlantic shoreline on 27 and 28 November, to test the Tsunami Early Warning and Mitigation System for the North-eastern Atlantic, the Mediterranean and connected seas. The exercise, named NEAMWave12, is organized under the umbrella of UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC).

Press Briefing Notes
Friday 19th October 2012
Spokesperson: Jean-Philippe Chauzy

IOM Pakistan has started camp coordination and camp management (CCCM) training in flood-affected districts of Pakistan's Sindh province, at the request of the Sindh Provincial Disaster Management Authority.

To date, 80 camp mangers, social mobilizers, community members and displaced people have taken part in four on-site trainings at future camp locations in Shikarpur, Jacobabad and Kashmore.

Ministry for Foreign Affairs

Press release 231/2012

Salvatore Lombardo, Director of External Relations for UNRWA, will visit Finland on Thursday, 11 October 2012. During his visit he will meet with cooperation partners of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs as well as parties interested in Palestine.

Originally from Italy, Lombardo has worked in the humanitarian aid sector for over 25 years. He has a long background in the UN refugee agency UNHCR, and in UNRWA he served as Director of UNRWA Affairs in Lebanon before taking up his current position.

Ministry for Foreign Affairs

Press release 179/2012

By decision of Minister for International Development Heidi Hautala, Finland grants 1.5 million euros of humanitarian assistance to those suffering from the crisis in Syria. The support will be targeted for persons in need of assistance, both those within Syria as well those who have fled to neighbouring countries. It will be channelled through the Finnish Red Cross, the World Food Programme (WFP) and UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund.

More than EUR153,000 will be spent on the second phase of a project to mitigate the impact of climate change on agricultural production in sandy areas of Quang Tri province.

This figure was announced at a ceremony on July 31 to launch the second phase to be implemented in Hai Que, Trieu Van and Trieu Giang communes from July 2012 to June 2014. The first phase of the project was implemented from 2009 to 2011.