Aaro Suonio is a Senior Advisor from Finland. Prior to joining the CoE Team he held positions as Head of Administration of CMC Finland and at the Ministry for the Interior’s International Affairs Unit as Chief Specialist, working on Civilian Crisis Management. Aaro has completed various international assignments and secondments, with experience working for the EU Delegation in Somalia, EUCAP Somalia, the European Union Monitoring Mission in Georgia, the European Union Monitoring Mission in Former Yugoslavia, and the International Conference on Former Yugoslavia Monitoring Mission in Serbia.

Aaro's longest international secondment by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland was to the Irish Peace Process on the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning (1997-2011), where he acted as Chef de Cabinet and Spokesperson for the Commission. Based on the decommissioning experience he has also advised the Philippine and Basque peace processes. In 2006 Aaro was awarded an Honorary MBE for services to the peace process in Northern Ireland and in 2009 he was appointed Knight of the Order of the Lion of Finland. 

In addition to this work, Aaro is also a Navy Reserve Officer of the Finnish Defence Forces. In a military capacity he has taken part in peace-keeping / military crisis management missions in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Croatia, Bosnia, and Lebanon.

Aaro is fluent in Finnish, English, and Swedish and has a colloquial knowledge of German and Serbo-Croatian. He holds a Master of Science (MSc) degree in International Security from Cranfield University, UK.