MFA:Crisis Management Now gathers Finnish actors and future experts

Finland is at the leading edge in comprehensive crisis management and peacebuilding.

Coordination and cooperation enhance the effectiveness of crisis management activities and contribute to the building of sustainable peace. At the event, representatives of central government, civil society organisations, and the private sector will discuss the opportunities of crisis management and peacebuilding, providing the visitors plenty of information and exciting experiences. Visitors to the event can meet the organisers at their stands.

Members of Parliament Pekka Haavisto (Greens), Ilkka Kanerva (National Coalition Party), Aila Paloniemi (Centre Party) and Jutta Urpilainen (Social Democratic Party), for instance, will be present and speak at the event. Peacekeepers who served when Finland participated in a peacekeeping operation for the first time in the 1950s will also attend the event.

Visitors will be able to play a role game, produced by the Finnish Defence Forces, in order to visualise what it would be like to work as an expert on the field. A virtual reality experience, offered by Teatime Research, will give people an idea of what Helsinki would look like and feel should the city become a conflict area similar to that in Aleppo in Syria.

In addition to experienced specialists, future peacebuilders will also be heard, but matters will also be approached from unexpected angles – music or virtual experiences can be used to build security.

The World Bank Group and the United Nations will present their recently published Pathways for Peace report and its findings on how to prevent violent conflicts. The Wider Security Network (WISE) will launch their new book Yhdessä enemmän - Kriisien hallintaa kokonaisvaltaisesti (More together – managing crises comprehensively), and some of the authors of the book will be present and tell about the book.

Commissioned by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in late April, Kantar TSN surveyed the views of 1,000 people in Finland about crisis management. According to the survey, 71 per cent of the Finns are fully or to some extent of the opinion that Finland must participate in the stabilisation of crises in the world despite the costs involved in international crisis management. The respondents were also asked what they know about crisis management.

Based on the responses, a crisis management event is necessary: 62 per cent of the respondents consider that military crisis management, including the so-called Blue Berets (UN peacekeepers), are well known in Finland. In addition, 60 per cent of them said that they know what crisis management means. The statistical margin of error is +/- three percentage points.

Crisis Management Now is an event where visitors can see and experience what crisis management is and discuss how sustainable peace is built by means of cooperation – all of us are needed in stabilising conflict areas. The event will be open to all and free of charge. It will be organised in Kellohalli at the Abattoir complex in Kalasatama on Thursday 17 May from 10.00 to 17.30 (doors will be opened at 09.30)

You can follow discussion on Twitter using #kriisinhallintanyt

For more information about the event, please, visit the Foreign Ministry or the event on Facebook or learn more about comprehensive crisis management on the website of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs: um.fi/kriisinhallinta.

Inquiries: Pekka Marttila, tel. +358 295 350 233, Outi Jalonen, tel. +358 50 505 3490, Unit for Security Policy and Crisis Management, Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

More information about the survey: Vesa Häkkinen, Unit for Communications on Current Affairs, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, tel. +358 404819880.

The Foreign Ministry’s email addresses are in the format firstname.lastname@formin.fi.

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The event is organised in cooperation between the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Justice, Defence Forces, Crisis Management Centre Finland (CMC Finland), Laurea University of Applied Sciences, Crisis Management Initiative (CMI), European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats (HybridCoE), Finn Church Aid (KUA), SaferGlobe, Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission (Felm), Finnish Red Cross, Peacekeepers’ Association Finland, Wider Security Network (WISE), Human Security Finland network, and Teatime Research.