A clear majority of people in Finland said they felt sad about the situation of women and girls living under the Taliban in Afghanistan, according to a survey commissioned by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The survey, carried out by market research firm Taloustutkimus, found that 86 percent of respondentsContinue Reading
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Wednesday ruled not to extend the interim measures introduced in the case of five Afghan migrants against Lithuania. The ECHR stated that the decision was made taking into account the fact that the mentioned Afghan citizens are now in the territory ofContinue Reading
Shortly before Finland evacuated 413 Afghan and Finnish citizens from Kabul in late August, the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) announced that it would suspend deportations of asylum seekers to Afghanistan. While this came as relief to those who were facing imminent removal to one of the most dangerous places inContinue Reading
USA:s president Joe Biden höll sitt kanske viktigaste tal hittills då han bestämt försvarade tillbakadragandet från Afghanistan. Men han får kritik från flera läger, inte minst från oppositionen. Inte ens bland demokraterna finns någon vilja att rusa till Bidens försvar. ”I månader har Biden och hans administration lovat att tillbakadragandetContinue Reading
Finland’s operation to evacuate people from Afghanistan has not yet ended, according to the Foreign Ministry’s Special Representative for Afghanistan Pekka Kaihilahti, despite that the ministry announced the conclusion of air evacuations last week. The possibility of continuing evacuations by land through neighbouring countries has been discussed as one option,Continue Reading
Sverige har under fredagen avslutat evakueringsarbetet i Afghanistan. Totalt 1 100 människor har evakuerats av Utrikesdepartementet. Vid lunchtid på fredagen fanns ingen svensk personal kvar i landet. Under fredagen höll regeringen en pressträff om läget i Afghanistan. Utrikesminister Ann Linde (S) inledde med att fördöma torsdagens terrordåd. Gårdagens terrorattacker riktadeContinue Reading
Finland’s evacuation operation in Kabul has ended, with around 340 people flown out. Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto (Green) announced the conclusion of operations at a press conference on Thursday evening, shortly after suicide attacks at the airport had killed scores of people. Defence Minister Antti Kaikkonen (Cen) said that operationsContinue Reading
Dunja Mijatovic, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, has called on Lithuania to respect its international human rights commitments in the current migration crisis, and Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte has said in response that irregular migrants attempting to crossing into the country can hardly be considered refugees. “ItContinue Reading
Despite following the course of events over the past two years in the war-torn country, Finland’s Ambassador to Afghanistan Pekka Kosonen said he was as surprised as anyone else about the events that began unfolding as the country’s government collapsed and the Taliban took control. The ambassador made the commentsContinue Reading
Finland has already facilitated the evacuation of more than 200 people from Kabul airport, which remains mired in chaos after the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan and thousands of people are trying to flee. Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto reported on Tuesday through his Twitter account that members of the staffContinue Reading