INTERNATIONAL: Finnish Secretary of State Encouraged to Appoint a 1325 Ambassador

Maj Britt Theorin, the president of Operation 1325 met with Finnish Secretary of State and saw a chance to put UNSCR 1325 on the Finnish agenda, and encourage an appointment of a Finnish Ambassador on 1325.

The meeting took place on September 29 in connection to the *conference “North to North – Women as Agents of Change.

Finland has one of the best developed national action plans among the Nordic states, due to its' clear goals. The government also has a close collaboration with civil society – which makes for a well established platform and sets the preconditions for a positive implementation of the resolution. However, as the secretary of state put it ”how well the practice lives up to its' good preconditions is not as certain”.

REDUCED SUPPORT TO CIVIL SOCIETY

The Secretary of State has a very positive attitude towards and good knowledge about resolution 1325, and there is a large team working with the resolution on many levels at the ministry, led by Heli Kanerva. A disappointment expressed by the minister was the reduced financial support to the work done by civil society on the resolution, due to a decreased budget for the ministry.

Theorin encouraged the ministry to offer training on the resolution and gender perspective – as was done in Sweden, when Margareta Winberg was appointed Minister of Equality in 1998. Among other topics discussed was the representation of women at all levels in missions in the EU as well as in the UN system, and Finland's possibilities to support a more equal representation.

STRESSED COLLABORATION AMONG NORDIC STATES ON 1325

The minister emphasised the importance of collaboration and not competition on these questions among the Nordic states. He wants to see a better coordination of the 1325-work internationally, for instance in Libya, as we all tend to promote and work for human rights, and secure women's participation and rights. The Nordic council was mentioned several times as an important platform that needs to be revived.

Finally, the Secretay of State was strongly encouraged by Theorin to appoint an ambassador for 1325, as was promised by the Swedish Undersecretary of State at the 10-year anniversary conference arranged by Operation 1325 in October 2010. Unfortunately the Swedish foreign ministry failed to live up to the promise, and hopefully a fast action by the Finnish ministry can put pressure on the Swedish ministry.

The minister was left with the recommendations from the 10-years conference, and was strongly encouraged to use them as a tool in his contined work.