Senior Advisor responsible for Civilian Crisis Management issues in the Ministry of the Interior of Finland
Helinä Kokkarinen has been working with refugee and immigration issues ever since from the beginning of 1980; she has been a Director of the Refugee Center, Researcher in the Associations of the Municipalities, Special Advisor in the in the Ministry of Social Welfare and Health as well as in the Ministry of Labour. She has worked as Project Manager in the City of Vantaa for the EU-program URBAN. Her international experience includes working for UNMIK as a Municipal Administrator and Regional Head of Social Welfare during 1999 - 2001. She has also been involved with several elections on Balkans under OSCE (Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe) and European Council. 2004-2007 Ms. Kokkarinen worked as a seconded National Expert in the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union, Civilian Crisis Management Directorate (DGE IX) and in the Civilian Planning and Conduct Capability (CPCC).