Finland suspended its support to the UN organization UNRWA, because the organization’s employees were allegedly involved in the Hamas attack. According to Minister Ville Tavio, Finland is now waiting for further clarifications.
Minister of Foreign Trade and Development Ville Tavio has asked his office for reports on alternative ways to help the Palestinians in Gaza, should it no longer be possible through UNRWA, the UN relief organization for Palestinian refugees.
State Department said on Saturday, that Tavio decided to suspend payments to the organization because of the accusations against UNRWA employees. According to the accusations, some of the employees are suspected of having participated in the attack on Israel by the terrorist organization Hamas.
The UN is conducting its own investigation into the matter, and the preliminary report should be completed in about a month. Tavio could not say about the schedule of a wider investigation.
According to Tavio, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs received information about the suspicions directly from UNRWA last Friday.
– Suspicions about the involvement of UNRWA employees and connections to Hamas are such serious accusations that we need to get clarity on the matter in these cases of abuse, Tavio told today, Wednesday.
According to him, Finland would have made the next payment to the organization during the first quarter.
Finland has an agreement with UNRWA for the years 2023–2026. The aid is five million euros per year.
According to him, the continuation of payments requires that Finnish money must not benefit terrorists.
– It must not go to Hamas’s advantage. A clear firewall is needed between Finland’s development cooperation funds and terrorist groups.
According to Tavio, the issue is also being discussed with the UN. Secretary General of the UN Antonio Guterres yesterday, Tuesday, I met the representatives of the countries that have decided to stop their support. Guterres assured at the meeting that investigations into the involvement of some of the organization’s employees in the October 7 terrorist attack are progressing quickly.
– It remains to be seen whether there is a faster way in which UNRWA can assure and secure that the money is not used for the benefit of Hamas, says Tavio.
Sweden suspended, Norway did not
So far, more than ten countries have suspended their support to UNRWA. This is what Iceland has done in the Nordic countries, and Sweden, who reported on the matter yesterday Tuesday.
Norway, on the other hand, continues its support. Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide yesterday, Wednesday, called on other countries that suspended their support to consider the consequences of the decision more broadly.
– We should not punish millions of people collectively. We need to separate what individual people may have done and what UNRWA represents, Barth Eide said in the bulletin.
One of the biggest supporters of UNRWA The EU has communicatedthat it will consider future funding decisions.
Help in other ways?
According to the Swedish Ministry of Development Aid, the money from the next installment intended for UNRWA will be given to other aid organizations. Canada also plans to increase funds for other organizations in Gaza.
What about Finland, will it continue to support Gaza in some other way?
– Finland recently supported the civilians of Gaza with four million euros through the International Committee of the Red Cross, and on top of that through the Finnish Red Cross, says Tavio.
He says that he asked the civil service to find out alternative ways to deliver the aid in case the aid could no longer be delivered through UNRWA.
Professor of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Helsinki Hannu Juusola assessed to that the boycott measures of the funding countries are a disaster for UNRWA’s activities and thereby for the Palestinian refugees. There is no entity in the Palestinian territories that can replace the activities of UNRWA.
Previously worked at UNRWA Merit Hietanen again assessed to that the idea according to which UNRWA’s funding would be transferred to other organizations that would continue to work in Gaza is unrealistic.
In his opinion, in the current situation, other organizations do not have realistic opportunities to create the same operational capacity and logistics in Gaza that UNRWA has there. In an interview with , Hietanen talks about working at UNRWA.
Tavio admitted to that it is not easy to replace the work of UNRWA.
– The situation is quite chaotic and difficult, and it is clear that civilians need humanitarian support – and Finland is providing it for its part. However, different channels must be explored if it cannot be given through UNRWA due to terrorism links.