The Mediterranean operation continues until next summer

The European Council has extended the operation and added two new supporting tasks. Finland’s participation in the added tasks will be decided later.

In June the Council extended the mandate of the EUNAVFOR MED Operation Sophia until July 2017. The Council also reinforced the operation’s mandate by adding two supporting tasks: training of the Libyan coastguards and navy and contributing to the implementation of the UN arms embargo in the Mediterranean. Finland’s participation in the new task will be decided by UTVA during the autumn.

Participating in the EU led EUNAVFOR MED Operation Sophia supports Finland’s capacity to develop its ability to protect sea traffic and form an overall picture of a multinational maritime operation.

-The Finnish Navy has previous experience of acting as a part of an international naval unit. In 2013 the Navy sent an autonomous vessel protection detachment to protect the UN’s food shipping near Somalia and in 2014 a similar detachment served on a German warship which protected the transportation of the Syrian chemical weapons to be destroyed, reminds the Chief of Staff of the Finnish Navy, Captain (N) Timo Hirvonen.

Finland has so far participated in the operation with a naval detachment and staff officers. Finland’s third rotation begins at the end of July.

EUNAVFOR MED Operation Sophia was launched in June 2015 in response to the worsening humanitarian situation in the Mediterranean. The operation entered its active phase in October 2015 and since then it has contributed to the arrest and transfer of 71 suspected smugglers and traffickers to the Italian authorities and neutralised 139 vessels. In addition, the operation has helped to save close to 16000 lives.