We are pleased to present an exclusive interview with President Tarja Halonen, who served as the President of Finland from 2000 to 2012. 

Tarja Halonen is one of the most influential public and political figures in Finland, being the first female president and a prominent advocate for global initiatives. Born into a humble family, President Halonen not only rose to international prominence but also became a strong voice for justice and human rights worldwide.

In this interview, you will learn a great deal from President Halonen, who has taken a principled stand on issues of freedom of the press and speech.

- Madame President Tarja Halonen, before we begin our conversation, I would like to express how happy I am to see you in Baku and also to have the opportunity to interview you. So welcome to Azerbaijan.

Throughout your career you have demonstrated strong solidarity with the women around the world who are addressing issues of social equality, human rights, gender equality, as well as democracy and sustainability. So let's start from the beginning.

How did your journey to becoming Finland's first female president begin and what necessities led you into public and political life?

- I never thought… It was not part of my dreams. As a matter of fact, I can tell a sweet story about my childhood. When my parents asked me what I could be when I am big, I answered that I want to be the one who is decorating the Christmas trees. Then my mother said, “very fine, I know that you are artistic, but it is a very short term during the year when you can be employed”. That is why she said to me that it is better to find something else. I was first studying the history of arts, but then after one year, I started to study law. We have the juridical faculty at the Finnish University. I was pretty radical. After I passed my exam, I still continued to be a full-time activist at the university, which was also paid by the student union. It took two years. After that, I was asked to go to the labor unions, trade unions of Finland. I started as a lawyer in the Central Organization (Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions). I had some experience already in this work because I had also earned money during my studies. Then for 10 years I was a union lawyer and I learned to know the practical life of the workers. I come from a working class family. But it was needed because I should have a much broader spectrum, of course, about how the workers live. And then our youth organization asked me to be a candidate in parliamentary elections during that time. So, I said yes, but I was not very serious. And then the result was pretty good and that is why the next time after four years they said that, could I do it again?

And then I found the man of my life. It was not forever, but anyway... And so, I was pregnant. I got my baby in November and then we have the parliamentary elections next March. So, I was free from the duties. Nobody could say that I will neglect my work. Then I became an MP and then for 20 years I was in the parliament. From that 20 years, for about 10 years I was minister of different kinds of governments we had. Then in 1995, the predecessor to be a president, President Ahtisaari, the Nobel laureate needed, and the government needed a minister for Foreign Affairs. They asked me. I was the first one to be a woman there. And then after five years, our president said that he does not want to continue to the second term. And then especially women, they wanted me to be a candidate. It was a little bit, how could I say, a surprise, but I was not the only female candidate. Already when President Ahtisaari became elected president, the strongest opponent to him was a lady who had been our first defense minister.

So I mean that it was in the air. That is why I always say that it is not enough if you are capable and you say yes. But it has also been the kind of social circumstances where the people want to elect - when it is a democratic country - somebody who is a little bit different. So, I became the first female president of Finland. I was well-trained because the last five years I had been the foreign minister. Then after the first term, they asked me to continue. That is the maximum time you can be in the office of the president in Finland. And I started already when I was elected in 2000 to become a president. I was interested in international affairs and I have also had activities in women's affairs and social politics, social justice in Finland. Millenium Goals were in 2000. And because I was president of Finland and I was co-chairing the Millenium Goals together with the president of Namibia. After that ILO (International Labour Organization) asked me to become a co-chair in fair globalization which was especially doing the social dimension. After that, again, the next secretary general of the UN, Ban Ki-moon, asked me to become a co-chair in the Rio process which was based on sustainability. Since that, I have been continuing to see how, I would say the 2030, will be a success. Now from Azerbaijan where we have supported your country, encourage your country to make as good an agreement, as convincing as possible, I will travel to Saudi Arabia and there I will represent the UN side on UNCCD, which is the desertification part. And that is it. It is not only what you want, but you have to say yes when they ask.

- As your personal history demonstrates women's participation in public and political life is vital for establishing a successful democratic society. So, you have held many high posts for many years. You have extensive experience. Probably you would also agree that without fair competition, free media and international cooperation, it would be really difficult for women to be active in public and political life. So, based on your experiences, can you tell where women should start from or if they have already begun how they can continue?

- I think that women are as good as men everywhere in all sectors. I think that you should first find that part of the life where you want to be specialized. Not always possible to choose only by yourself, but it is also about the alternatives and then when you are good enough. So, I hope that your partners and your colleagues will also push you further. But I would say that in Nordic welfare society, social justice is very important. I would say that whether you become a president or not, the free media and especially the freedom of the thoughts of the people, whatever they are doing, whether they are teachers, whether they are journalists, whether they are doing whatever else that they have been freed from being afraid of getting the negative consequences if he or she will tell one's own opinion.

Of course, you might get the critics and social media is terrible. But I mean not by the state. I think that freedom of press, freedom of thought is one of the basic issues of modern democratic society. So, I would say that political rights, freedom are important, but are also the social side of society. So that you will be also independent in the sense that if your economic situation is a bad situation, like if you become sick or so, it is guaranteed. And health is in that sense also important and education rights because people have to not only to read and write and do mathematics but also be critical reader of the media and the books.

- As you mentioned, you also co-chaired UN Secretary General's High-Level panel on global sustainability. We know that climate change disproportionately affects women, especially those who are living in vulnerable communities and it also exacerbates existing inequalities. So, what measures do you believe are essential to ensure that women are not only protected but also empowered to lead climate resilience efforts?

- Yeah, gender equality is not, how could I say, it is not the clear thing all over the world. People do not notice that even the legislation can be the same, paragraphs can be the same. But as a matter of fact, in practical life, men and women will be targeted in different ways. For instance, the risk for women or girls to die in climate catastrophe is 14 times more than that of men or boys. It is a combination of what women are doing of course, but it is also part of the societal conditions. Different countries can have, for instance, that men, boys have privileges not only in education or in public life, but also in families. The boys will get better food and they will be looked after more carefully. I know that. And that is why I think that we should especially be very careful about how these issues are concerning girls' and women's lives.

That is why we are now here in Baku. We have underlined very much the fact that women's situations should be taken into account more seriously. Since Doha, we have had a special women's programme in climate change so that they could see the possibilities to channel more money and resources there. But it has not succeeded very well. That is why now one of the items we have tried in different kinds of organizations to underline is that, of course, the mitigation, of course not causing more harm to the planet and then to help those countries and people who have suffered the most and worse damages is very important on that, but one big group of the global population are women and it is not correct for them, it is not right for them to suffer so much more. But the second point is also that nowadays girls, if they have a possibility to study, they do it harder than boys. So, we should also support all these resources the girls and the women have. It will be not only for them, which is also right of course, but it is for the whole society that we could get these hidden resources more useful.

But let's see. I am a bit optimistic here in Baku that perhaps we finally could get something for that. But I know that many young ones, they say that, why it is so terribly difficult because everybody should understand that it would be smart.

- Post presidency, you also remained active in human rights initiatives. Based on your observations, how do you evaluate the current state of human rights globally?

- It is a very interesting and difficult situation because if we take the whole global situation, one could say quite honestly that the situation is better. But there are also the areas where it is worse. And something which I think that is difficult for people to understand is that once we have made some things correctly, they do not last automatically in the future. You have to create them, but you also have to defend them. And this is sometimes a bit difficult to start if you have done it many times and it comes again and again worse. And then you think why do I have to repeat this so many times? But this is the fact in practice.

For instance, if I take one example, which is a little bit more far away from here, is Afghanistan. So, we already had a very positive period in the life of Afghanistan, not only for girls and women but also boys and men.

But now the situation is terribly bad with the girls and women. You can imagine the situation where mothers can tell their daughters or fathers to their daughters that we are very sorry, but after 12 years when you are 12 years old, you cannot attend education. There are also some other places where I think that has been alarming news. Like for instance, Iran. Now, if they make this reform in the legislation, what has been in the news. But also in so-called European or let's say broader, the democratic countries. It can happen for a reason or the other when the circumstances have been changed. For instance, because of the outside, for instance, in Ukraine, the war made by Russians.

So, the situation is again such that it is very fragile for the girls and women. Or it can be so that if you have wartime, for instance, the freedom of the press will be always under quite strict control and it is in a way the system which is very difficult to make better. So, I think that war in every place, every time has not been very good for the freedom of the thoughts and freedom of the press.

- I truly value this quote of yours. Once you said that “Society is stronger when people are not afraid to say freely what they think and discussion is the way to resolve conflicts.” What do you think is the foundation of the culture of dialogue and openness in Finnish society? And what has it brought to Finland?

- It is not always nice when the social media or the traditional media, if they are criticizing you. No, no. It can be terrible and they are not always correct. But the possibility that there would not be freedom is much, much worse. I mean that the freedom of the dialogue and the right to defend if you have the wrong information spread, it is strong for the society than if you try to limit it beforehand. So, I will say only that teaching children already to be critical readers, critical in the discussions, will be much more effective than trying to, how could I say, to say beforehand that this is how that is dangerous. So, I think that we have seen, not only in Finland or other Nordic countries, but you have seen it all over the world that always when somebody is trying to limit the freedom of thought it is not good. It is not correct for the person her or himself, but it is also not good for the society.

- President Halonen, Kitabistan was founded with the inspiration of the Finnish model. We started our journey by publishing the book “Finland, the country of White Lilies” in Azerbaijani. So as a former president of Finland, your book recommendation would be very interesting to our followers. What book would you recommend to us to read?

- I think that you have to be a critical reader. Also concerning Finland, we have had better periods and worse periods. This is open. You can see that it has worked also with us and we can see also that if something worse situation has come, that how to get rid of it. So, I hope that all the readers have enjoyable time for reading and being critical.

- Thank you very much for taking your time.

- Thank you very much for this possibility to discuss with you. Thank you.

Malak Hajiyeva

28.11.2024