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Finland UNITED NATIONS PEACEKEEPING ACTIVITIES
Finland has taken an active role in United Nations (UN)
peacekeeping matters as a means of demonstrating its
interest in
the maintenance of international peace. Because of their
unimpeachable behavior in conformity with Finland's
neutral
status, Finnish troops have almost invariably been
welcomed as
elements of UN peacekeeping forces by the parties involved
in
international crises. A law enacted in 1964, defining the
conditions of Finnish participation, limited the maximum
number
of soldiers serving at any one time to 2,000. Regular
troops of
the Defense Forces could not be sent abroad, so the
peacekeeping
forces were composed of volunteer reservists, career
officers,
and NCOs who wished to be detached from their units to
serve with
UN contingents. A six-month rotation was customary, but
many
reservists had volunteered for repeated service. By the
late
1980s, some 20,000 Finns had served in UN peacekeeping
missions.
Specialized instruction was provided at a permanent
training site
where clothing and equipment were stored for immediate
availability. A stand-by force, consisting of a reserve
motorized
infantry battalion of approximately 700 men, could be
prepared
for mobilization anywhere in the world within four weeks.
Its key
officers could be in place much sooner. Officer training
for the
special requirements of UN service was conducted on a
cooperative
basis with other Nordic countries. Finland was responsible
for
training military observers; Sweden trained staff
officers;
Denmark, military police officers; and Norway, logistics
and
transportation officers.
Within a year after its admission to the UN in 1955,
Finland
sent a reinforced rifle company of 250 men as part of the
UN
Emergency Force (UNEF) based in Egypt for service in the
Sinai
and the Gaza Strip. In 1964 a reinforced battalion with a
strength of 1,000 men was attached to the UN Force in
Cyprus
(UNFICYP). It was composed of five light infantry
companies and a
support company, armed with rifles, machine pistols, light
machine guns, mortars, and bazookas. Later Finnish
contingents
were organized and equipped in similar fashion, with the
addition
of a vehicle repair unit, a field hospital, and most
transport,
signal, and housing requirements.
Finnish units served from 1973 to 1979 in a buffer zone
between Israel and Egypt in the Suez Canal area as part of
the UN
Emergency Force II (UNEF II), after which the contingent
was
transferred to the Golan Heights between Israeli and
Syrian
forces as part of the UN Disengagement Observer Force
(UNDOF).
Beginning in 1982, a Finnish battalion was assigned to
serve with
the UN Interim Force (UNIFIL) in southern Lebanon. As of
late
1988, about 1,000 members of the Finnish armed forces were
serving on peacekeeping missions. In addition to the
UNIFIL
battalion, they were assigned as cease-fire observers in
Cyprus,
along the India-Pakistan border, in the Sinai, on the
Golan
Heights between Israel and Syria, in the Persian Gulf, and
in
Afghanistan. Finland was also committed to contribute to
the UN
peacekeeping force to be sent to Namibia.
Data as of December 1988
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