In the autumn of 2015, tens of thousands of asylum seekers coming to Finland needed food and a roof on their heads quickly. Managing the exceptional situation required exceptional measures from the Red Cross as well as from other actors. What costs were incurred by the government-funded reception operation carried out by the Red Cross?
The autumn of 2015 was a challenging time for the Red Cross workers and volunteers in Finland. Emergency accommodations for asylum seekers had to be established at a few hours’ notice, and there could be as many as three reception units set up in one day. How does the Finnish Red Cross assess the past two years?
The first Finnish Red Cross aid workers will be flying to Bangladesh tomorrow at the earliest. The Disaster Relief Fund has granted 500,000 euros to managing the refugee crisis.
The evacuation centre can be used in disaster situations in Finland or nearby areas. The centre was tested as part of a catastrophe exercise carried out on the Estonian island of Saaremaa on 14–15 September.
The Finnish Red Cross is prepared to support the authorities at all times in rescue and aid operations around Finland, in the event of a disaster. This collaboration was put into practice recently in Vaasa, with a fictional passenger ferry accident involving over 100 casualties.
Yemen, suffering from conflict and drought, is in great need of help. The funds collected on Hunger Day help the victims of natural disasters, conflicts and sudden accidents in Finland and abroad. The Hunger Day box collection is held on 14–16 September.
Vapaaehtoisille on turvataloilla monenlaisia tehtäviä. Voit esimerkiksi päivystää työntekijöidemme kanssa nuorten kriisimajoituksessa tai auttaa nuoria verkossa Sekasin-chatissa.
The Finnish Red Cross will carry out an exercise focusing on evacuation and rescue operations in the event of a marine disaster together with safety and rescue authorities on 14 September. At the same time, an emergency hospital evacuation exercise will be carried out in Saaremaa, Estonia.
Since the knife attack that took place in Turku, the Red Cross emotional support volunteers have talked with around thousand people near Turku Market Square and in crisis services. Support is still available.
A total of 11,581 Finns and 41 organisations are petitioning the Finnish Government to raise its refugee quota. The petition was submitted to Minister of the Interior Paula Risikko on Wednesday, 16 August.
More than 58 000 people suffering from the drought received food thanks to cooperation between the Finnish Red Cross and the Baphalali Swaziland Red Cross, financed by the European Commission's Humanitarian Aid.
The Finnish Red Cross will carry out an exercise focusing on evacuation and rescue operations in the event of a marine disaster together with safety and rescue authorities on 14 September. At the same time, an emergency hospital evacuation exercise will be carried out in Saaremaa, Estonia.
Since the knife attack that took place in Turku, the Red Cross emotional support volunteers have talked with around thousand people near Turku Market Square and in crisis services. Support is still available.
A total of 11,581 Finns and 41 organisations are petitioning the Finnish Government to raise its refugee quota. The petition was submitted to Minister of the Interior Paula Risikko on Wednesday, 16 August.
Syrjintä on samalla sekä arkipäiväinen että vaiettu osa nuorten elämää. Nuorten turvatalojen ammattitaito nojautuu rauhallisen kuuntelemisen taitoon: kykyyn pysähtyä kaikessa rauhassa paitsi puheen, myös hiljaisuuden äärelle, kirjoittaa turvatalotoiminnan johtaja Leena Suurpää.
Ensimmäinen Nuorten turvatalo avattiin Helsingin Pakilassa 1990. Ensipäivinä apua hakivat niin nuorisokodista karannut nuori kuin kadulle lapsensa kanssa joutunut isäkin.
Kun Eero Rämöllä oli synttärit ja valmistujaiset, hän toivoi lahjojen sijaan läheisiltään rahaa Nuorten turvatalolle. Punaisen Ristin uudessa palvelussa kuka tahansa voi perustaa keräyksen tärkeäksi kokemalleen kohteelle.
The window blinds have been lowered. No one needs to know whether someone is home in the flat. The two-room flat in Pori houses a varying number of men whose application for asylum was rejected.
The World AIDS Day animation “The Rise and Fall of Angry Aids” details how the treatment and prevention of HIV has progressed from the point of view of an angry AIDS character.
The number of asylum seekers has decreased significantly. As reception centres are being closed, the Finnish Red Cross is focusing on developing the quality of the services provided, which has also lead to significant financial savings. An example of this is moving from canteens to independent meals.
Next year the Finnish Red Cross will distribute 60,000 kilograms of food in Finland as EU aid. In addition to the aid from the EU, the Rauma branch also distributes leftover school meals and unsold products from grocery stores to those in need.
The Finnish Red Cross opened a new Kontti Second Hand Department Store in Itäkeskus, in Helsinki, on 4 August. Even though the weather was rainy, the opening attracted a large crowd of Helsinki citizens.
The Amiri family, from Afghanistan, fled war and death, but were separated on the way. With help from the Red Cross tracing, the father and the eldest son were able to contact each other, but the mother and the youngest child are still missing.
The Finnish parliament will cast their final vote on the government’s motion on the stricter conditions of family reunification. A total of 17 non-governmental organisations are appealing to the MPs to abandon these cruel and short-sighted new conditions. The organisations include refugee organisations, human rights groups and children’s rights organisations.
The start of the “Summer Rubber” sexual health campaign and the festival season were celebrated at the traditional YleXPop event in Lahti on Saturday. This year, the event also featured a sexual health kiosk that provides the opportunity to pass a condom skills test or to ask any sex-related questions.
European governments are wrong if they think they can cut off the flood of refugees crossing the Mediterranean by sending fleets to destroy the vessels of human smugglers, said the Vice-President of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the Kenyan doctor Abbas Gullet.
The Finnish Red Cross has received numerous questions about how best to help the afflicted people in Nepal. At the moment, the most efficient way to get help to those in need is via the Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund. The collected funds are used for emergency relief and acquisition of materials for people who have lost their homes.
Finnish Red Cross sent an emergency response unit, specialized in logistics, to Kathmandu airport, Nepal. This single international airport in the country is, and will be for the foreseeable future, a hub for incoming aid. There are only a couple of land routes into the country, and the roads are difficult to negotiate.
The Finnish Red Cross and Land Rover begin collaboration. The objective is to offer clean water and better health for 24,000 people in Tajikistan, the most impoverished country in Central Asia.
A man painstakingly lectures his family on the importance of hand washing while the house next door is under quarantine. What could seemingly be a scene of an Ebola affected community is in fact the set of the Sierra Leone Red Cross’ new soap opera, Advice.
Friday 13 March 2015 marks four years since the start of the Syrian conflict. There is no end in sight for the most destructive humanitarian crisis of the decade.
On 26 February, a truckload of aid supplies left for Ukraine from the Red Cross logistics centre in Tampere. The Ukrainians have a shortage of food and warms clothes as the conflict persists.
Malawi is suffering from the worst floods in over a decade. The Finnish Red Cross is sending 100,000 euros to the aid operation, with the help of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland.
A new International Red Cross Ebola treatment centre has been opened in Kono, in eastern Sierra Leone. The Finnish Red Cross sent three aid workers to work in treatment to Kono.
Most of the patients in the Red Cross Azraq hospital are Syrian children and mothers in labour. Several Finnish aid workers work in the hospital built in Jordania.
Consecutive pregnancies take a toll on women’s health while men have trouble feeding their families. Health awareness spread by the Red Cross helps families prepare for health risks in the poor villages of North-Kenya.
A group of four men in protective suits meet the ambulance full of patients, arriving to the Red Cross Ebola treatement centre in Kenema from Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone. The journey takes several hours and many of the patients are in bad condition by the time they arrive.
