Marja Lehto elected President of the Finnish Red Cross

Marja Lehto, Doctor of Laws, Master of Political Sciences and Docent of International Law, has been elected President of the Board of the Finnish Red Cross for the next three-year term. Lehto has long worked with both the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Finnish Red Cross. 

Lehto has, among other things, chaired the Finnish working group on humanitarian law. In her opinion, the principles and aims of the Red Cross are still relevant, as they provide a sustainable basis for humane, independent, fair and impartial action. 

“It is important to the Finnish Red Cross that the provision of aid to the most vulnerable is safeguarded – both domestically and internationally. The number of armed conflicts in the world has increased, and all too often we see the disregard of the legal rules of war and the suffering of civilians. Even our humanitarian principles are being put into question,” says Lehto, the newly elected President of the Finnish Red Cross.

Red Cross to counteract growing inequality 

Lehto, the new President of the Finnish Red Cross, has had a long career as a diplomat. She retired from her ambassador role at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland at the beginning of the year. She has served in numerous international expert bodies, including chairing for bodies of the UN, EU and Council of Europe, as a member of the International Law Commission and as Special Rapporteur on environmental protection in armed conflict.

Lehto currently serves as Vice Chair of both the International Institute of Humanitarian Law (IIHL) and the Court of Conciliation and Arbitration within the OSCE. She has published extensively on international law, including armed conflicts.  

From 2023 to 2025, Lehto served as a representative of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs on the Finnish Red Cross Council. She stresses that volunteering should be valued and strengthened in Finland. Volunteers are part of society's overall security and preparedness. 

“The Finnish Red Cross has an important role to play in making humanitarian principles more visible in Finnish society and politics. This is important as the social climate has become more rigid: high unemployment and poverty among families with children is all but accepted, racist speech has become normalised, and loneliness and inequality have increased. The Finnish Red Cross can counteract those developments in society that increase inequality and loneliness and reduce mutual trust between people," Lehto says.

General Assembly elects elected officials for the Red Cross

The General Assembly of the Finnish Red Cross, which takes place every three years, is the organisation's highest decision-making body. This time, it will meet in Rovaniemi on 6–7 June. The participants in the General Assembly are representatives of the organisation's local branches and districts.

The General Assembly elects the organisation's highest elected officials and approves the policy that defines the Finnish Red Cross's operational and financial guidelines for the next three years. Decisions on the strategic guidelines steering the work of the Finnish Red Cross for 2027–2029 will be made on Sunday 7 June.

Kristiina Brisk-Mosander, Dan Sundqvist and Taika Vaulo have been elected as the new Vice Presidents of the Board of the Finnish Red Cross. 

The members of the Board of the Finnish Red Cross for the next three-year period are Veli-Matti Ahtiainen, Päivi Hurttia, Tuula Oksanen, Marju Sjösten, Tanja Stenvall and Maarit Villman. 

Mikko Sipilä was elected Chair of the Council and Kenneth Nygård was elected Vice Chair of the Council.

A further 23 members of the Council and their deputies will be elected on Sunday 7 June. The relevant ministries will nominate their representatives to the Council in June.