Finland’s Border Force Bans Vegetarians

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

HELSINKI/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – People who don’t eat meat can forget about a career in a Finnish military unit protecting Finland’s long border with Russia and other countries, officials say.

The so-called “Border Hunters” won’t accept vegetarians, vegans, or people with severe food allergies, warned Ville Juvonen, the force’s chief instructor in Finland’s North Karelia region.

He added that the Finnish Defense Forces (FDF) made the dietary restriction rules for the Border Hunters: “Wartime duties are very demanding, and it’s very difficult to distribute meals.”

With this decision, he said, “we want to make sure that everyone gets adequate amounts of nutritious food even in exceptional circumstances.”

If diets need to be restricted, “it gets more complicated,” he told Finland’s public broadcaster Yle. “During demanding tasks, a person’s energy expenditure can exceed 6,000 calories,” he stressed. “To get enough calories, you need quality nutrition.”

Border Hunters, or “Border Jaegers” in Finnish, are also trained to catch meat and fish in the wilderness to survive, officials said.

The meat announcement came as Finland is on its way to becoming the 31st member of the NATO military alliance following approval by the Turkish and Hungarian parliaments.

LONG BORDER

Finland shares Europe’s most extensive border with Russia at roughly 1309 kilometers (813 miles) and shorter frontiers with allies Norway and Sweden. Though Finland has begun constructing a sophisticated 200 kilometers (124 miles) border fence, authorities say they still depend on (meat-eating) Border Hunters to protect Finnish land.

Yet the emphasis on meat was a setback for, say, Green politicians who prefer people to consume plants and insects to “save the planet from climate change.”

And Finland’s Ombudsman expressed mixed feelings about the new rules. “It seems that people are put in a disadvantageous situation based on their health situation and possibly, beliefs,” claimed Robin Harms, senior advisor at the Non-Discrimination Ombudsman’s Office.

Harms argued that there must be “very strong reasons [for such restrictions], which must be acceptable in terms of fundamental and human rights.”

However, he cautioned that although the military’s justification for the please-eat-meat measures seems well-founded, they may need scrutiny.

“Ultimately, one needs to evaluate whether these guidelines are reasonable,” he added in published remarks. “Is it actually the case that they are absolutely necessary in today’s world, or can the same goal be achieved in a way that does not limit rights to the same degree?”.

For now, meat is back on the menu in Finland’s barracks.

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