Finland

Finland is committed to advancing SRHR in it’s report on development policy as well as the humanitarian policy and national action plan on Women, peace and security, UN resolution 1325.

The aim of Finland’s development policy is to support developing countries’ efforts to eradicate poverty and inequality and promote sustainable development. Finnish development policy is human rights based and gender equality is a cross-cutting objective.

The rights and status of women and girls is one of the four priority areas in the current Finnish-development policy. SRHR is emphasized under this priority. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland’s Report on Development Policy Across Parliamentary Terms states that “Finland supports the safeguarding of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) of women and girls, including those with disabilities, and their right to access high-quality and non-discriminatory sexual and reproductive health services. Finland seeks to strongly reduce maternal and child mortality and promotes comprehensive sexual education as well as the inclusion of men and boys in the realisation of these rights. Finnish expertise relating to maternal and child health as well as contraception clinics is also taken into account. At the same time, all these measures are linked with the broader health policies pursued by developing countries.”

Finland promotes sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) comprehensively and therefore uses the full term, which includes sexual health services, sexuality education, contraception, maternity health services, consent, and the right to safe abortion, among others.

Finland supports SRHR in most of the bilateral partner countries

Priority areas are listed in country programmes, which show that Finland supports comprehensive sexuality education in Mosambique and Ukraine, sexual rights of people with disabilities in Syria and Central Asia plus also SRHR in general in Kenya, Somalia and Afghanistan.

Finland’s multilateral development cooperation

Finland gives priority to UN agencies that promote SRHR, gender equality and work to reduce inequality. Finland is one of the largest supporter of the UNFPA, United Nations Sexual and Reproductive Health Agency: in 2021 Finland´s core funding contribution to UNFPA was EUR 33 million.

Humanitarian aid

Finland is committed to channeling annually about 10 per cent of its development aid appropriations for humanitarian aid directed to official development assistance (ODA) recipient countries. Humanitarian aid is guided by Finland’s Humanitarian Policy. According to the humanitarian policy Finland pays particular attention to improving the status of people with disabilities in emergencies, to the sexual and reproductive health and rights of women and girls, and to the need to prevent sexual violence in crisis situations.

National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security

Finland’s new National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security was published on 13 March. This is Finland’s fourth National Action Plan (NAP), extending from 2023 to the end of 2027. The NAP is the result of a broad-based stakeholder collaboration. Its key objective is to strengthen women’s participation in peace and security, and thereby support efforts to build sustainable peace. One of the main objectives of Finland’s fourth NAP is Women’s meaningful participation and diversity have a stronger role in conflict prevention and in building sustainable peace which includes strengthening SRHR in fragile contexts and conflict areas. Also the objective Women and girls have more security, their rights are better safeguarded and their diverse needs are better met during crises includes emphasizing SRHR