Office of the President of the Republic of Finland
Press Release 38/2012
In his speech at the UN General Assembly, President of the Republic Sauli Niinistö emphasised the important role of the Security Council in promoting international peace and security.
“We wish to shoulder the responsibility that membership in the Council entails,” President Niinistö said at the UN Headquarters in New York on Tuesday, 25 September 2012. “We would be ready to look for constructive and even-handed solutions to common problems.”
President Niinistö also emphasised Finland’s strong role in UN peace-keeping activities and Finland’s commitment to the development of those activities, for example, in the form of training. “Peace-keeping mandated by the Council is an important means at our disposal in this regard. Finland has participated in UN peace-keeping as long as it has been a member state.”
In his speech President Niinistö also brought up mediation, to which Finland has also made a strong contribution. “At the initiative of Finland and Turkey, a resolution was adopted in this hall last year that strengthened the normative basis for mediation.”
President Niinistö stated that weapons of mass destruction remain a grave threat to international security, making non-proliferation a necessity. Finland also expressed its readiness to take part in the monitoring of chemical weapons in the Middle East.
The President stressed the role of the UN Security Council in resolving the crisis in Syria. “Killings of civilians must stop. All members of the Security Council must cooperate to find a way out of the crisis.”