Commander of the Finnish Defence Forces

Season's greetings to our finnish peacekeepers

Finnish peacekeepers,

The work you do in the world’s crisis areas is very important. Your actions help improve the safety and living opportunities of the people living in crisis areas in many ways.

Finland also benefits from military crisis management. Solving crises where they are born guards against threats in our country. Crisis management operations offer opportunities to develop our military capabilities. The operations allows us to train both our salaried personnel and our reservists in demanding conditions and on many command levels. Additionally, it lets us bring our own skills and knowledge to the fore, and thus strengthen the image of our defence capability.

The importance of your work is widely recognised. According to the latest polls, over half of Finns think that participation in international crisis management increases Finland’s security.

The crises around us are becoming more complex. Crisis management changes likewise. Crisis management is not only about maintaining or monitoring a ceasefire in a conflict between nations, but the today the peacekeepers have to operate in an environment where the goals and actions or roles of the parties are not clear. Today, the task of the peacekeepers is more often the protection of friendly troops or civilians, for example against the threat posed by terrorists, criminals gangs or hostile ethnic groups.

Also the 11 crisis management operations that Finland currently participates in are different from each other both in character, demands and security situation. Today, Finns are serving both in larger operations as units, as well as military observers, trainers and mentors. The skills and know-how of Finnish peacekeepers are internationally recognised, regardless of the location or the type of the operation.

Finnish peacekeepers’ work to improve international safety and security will continue also next year. In 2018 Finland will participate in military crisis management more or less in the same operations and with the same number of personnel as this year. The United Nations’ UNIFIL operation in Lebanon remains our largest military crisis management contribution.

I thank you for the valuable work that you do to keep and build the peace in the crisis areas of the world. I wish you a peaceful holiday season and a happy new year 2018, in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Israel, Iraq, Kosovo, Kuwait, Lebanon, Mali, Somalia, Syria and in the Mediterranean.

Commander of the Finnish Defence Forces

General Jarmo Lindberg