Finnish rights group files complaint about minister’s decision to suspend UNRWA funding – the decision to end Gaza aid may violate Finland’s obligation not to participate in genocide, organization says

Sumud – The Finnish Palestine Network has submitted a complaint to the Chancellor of Justice of the Finnish Government regarding Foreign Trade and Development Minister Ville Tavio’s (The Finns Party) decision to suspend Finland’s funding to UNRWA, the United Nations agency providing assistance to Palestinian refugees. The complaint seeks to start an investigation into whether Tavio overstepped his authority in making the decision to cut off the agency’s funding. Tavio announced his decision just one day after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) had found it plausible that Israel’s acts in Gaza could amount to genocide. 

“There are serious reasons to suspect that the decision to end aid to Gaza by suspending UNRWA’s funding violates the Finnish state’s obligation to prevent genocide and not participate in genocide”, Sumud states in the complaint. The complaint has been signed by Sumud’s chairperson, actor and playwright Noora Dadu, vice-president and doctoral researcher Majed Abusalama and vice-president, cosmologist Syksy Räsänen.

Minister Ville Tavio announced his decision to suspend Finland’s funding to UNRWA on January 27. Tavio has explained his decision by referring to the allegations made by Israeli officials accusing twelve UNRWA employees of taking part in the attack carried out by Palestinian armed groups in Israel on Oct 7, 2023. In an interview with the Finnish daily Helsingin Sanomat on Jan 31, Tavio stated that he had heard about the allegations against UNRWA only one and a half hours prior to making the decision to cut off the agency’s funding.

Just a few days before Tavio’s decision, Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen stated that “help to Gaza must be delivered now, whatever it takes”, because “people are on the verge of dying of thirst and starvation”.

“This is about the lives of two million Palestinians in Gaza,” Noora Dadu says and continues: “It is shocking that the minister makes such a decision, in the middle of a humanitarian disaster, without any explanation or discussion within the government. No independent source has verified Israel’s claims. And even if the claims were verified later, suspending the funding of UNRWA is a collective punishment targeting the civilian population.”

In the past, Israel has leveled various false accusations against Palestinian NGOs. In 2021, Israel labeled six prominent Palestinian human rights NGOs as terrorist organizations. After an investigation into the matter, the European Union found the claims to be baseless.

Sumud holds that it is important to investigate whether Minister Tavio overstepped his authority in making the decision about suspending UNRWA’s funding hastily, without proper evaluation and without taking the issue to the appropriate ministerial committee. Moreover,  is important to investigate if the decision is in violation of Finland’s obligation to prevent genocide and not to take part in genocide.

Just one day before Tavio’s decision, on January 26, the United Nations’ top legal body ICJ issued an interim decision in the case brought by South Africa against Israel accusing Israel of committing a genocide in Gaza. In the decision, the court found it plausible that Israel is committing genocide and reminded that all states have an obligation to act to prevent the crime of genocide.

Majed Abusalama, doctoral student in the University of Tampere, is himself Gazan. His family lives in Gaza and has had to flee the ongoing bomings three times. He says: “Israel has killed many of my relatives, including my adopted brother, and bombed our home.” According to Abusalama, Tavio’s decision shows contempt for international law: “I condemn Finland’s abuse of power and indifference to international law only a day after the decision of the International Court of Justice.”

In addition to Finland, a few other EU member states have cut off their funding to UNRWA. However, Belgium, Spain, Ireland and Denmark, among others, have continued their funding to the agency. Josep Borrell, EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, has confirmed that the union will continue its funding to UNRWA. According to Borrell, the suspension of funding would amount to a “collective punishment” of Palestinians and lead to the death of hundreds of thousands of people. UN Secretary-General António Guterres has strongly appealed to governments that have stopped their aid to reconsider and ensure continued support to UNRWA.

“Genocide is the most serious of crimes,” Syksy Räsänen stresses. Referring to Borrell’s statement, he says: “When the EU foreign minister warns about the death of hundreds of thousands of people, the Finnish government should take the matter seriously.”

Additional information and interview requests

Lili De Paola

Coordinator

Sumud – The Finnish Palestine Network

[email protected]