The Finnish Defence Forces (FDF) have responded to allegations of sexual abuse and racism by a Finnish peacekeeping force in Chad 15 years ago, saying the "inappropriate behaviour" should have been addressed at the time.
A book written by war studies professor and FDF veteran Ilmari Käihkö, published last week, documented his firsthand experiences while serving as a Finnish peacekeeper on a UN crisis management mission in the African nation in 2009.
Käihkö's book described the blatant racism shown by members of the peacekeeping force towards Chadian locals, including liberal use of the n-word as well as other derogatory terms.
He also recounted incidents of alleged physical abuse and sexual abuse, and claimed the Finnish peacekeepers solicited sex from locals in exchange for money and masturbated in front of local women.
"The name-calling and events described by newspaper articles would exceed the threshold for an intervention, according to both the guidelines available then and the current guidelines," Brigadier General Sami-Antti Takamaa said.
Takamaa, who also serves as Deputy Chief of Staff of Army Operations, noted that he had not yet read Käihkö's book, but based his comments on exerpts published in the media. He said he finds it problematic that the issues were not brought to the attention of superiors at the time, because then they could have been addressed.
However, he acknowledged that such things can happen on peacekeeping missions.
"Personally, I had 13 months of experience in Kosovo, and I have to say that some very strange things have come to light," Takamaa said, noting that in his view, the incidents described by Käihkö were much less likely to happen these days.
"I believe that although education was good at the time, there has also been progress. Not just in the Defence Forces but in society. Certainly many of the practices have changed," he said.
In his book, Käihkö said peer pressure hampered the ability to tackle racism within the peacekeeping mission. Although very few members of the force were actively racist, Käihkö explained in the book, any attempts at intervention would lead to a backlash, resulting in the racist incidents being unreported.
Takamaa encouraged members of the forces to raise issues about racism, even anonymously.
"We have a lot of people with immigrant backgrounds in the military and in the reserves, so it [the topic] would be raised during conscript training. Conscripts are very aware these days. And since this kind of thing has not come up before this publication, I don't think it exists on a large scale," he said.
Parliament's Defence Committee is to hold a hearing on the problems Käihkö raised about the Chad operation.
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