United Nations, Nov 6 (IANS) India has said enhancing peacekeeping is a priority for it in seeking election to the Security Council with a firm commitment to bolstering the operations and protecting peacekeepers.
“It is because we regard peacekeeping as irreplaceable to this institution’s core purpose that India has identified it as a priority for our candidacy for the Security Council for the term 2028-29”, Colonel Tarunendra Pratap Singh, the military adviser at India’s mission, said on Thursday.
The elections to the Council for that term will be held next year.
“We reaffirm our unwavering commitment to UN peacekeeping and to a peacekeeping architecture that is better resourced, better protected, and more representative of the world it serves”, he said.
“India has deployed more than 300,000 troops across 50 missions, which makes us the largest troop contributor till date”, he pointed out.
Singh spoke at the annual debate on the comprehensive review of peacekeeping operations held at the Assembly’s Fourth Committee, which deals with special political and decolonisation matters.
He recalled India’s leadership when it was the Council’s president during its last term in ensuring the safety of peacekeepers and bringing those attacking them to justice.
During its presidency in August 2021, Singh said India piloted the Council resolution calling for accountability for crimes against peacekeepers, and it will continue its leadership on the issue.
The resolution said the targeted attacks on peacekeepers were a “major challenge” to UN operations and asked all countries hosting peacekeeping operations “to promote accountability for the killing of, and all acts of violence against United Nations personnel serving in peacekeeping operations”.
The UN’s blue helmets “today face asymmetric and technologically enabled threats and those who attack peacekeepers must be held accountable”, Singh said.
“India upholds the safety and security of peacekeepers as one of the most important aspects of peacekeeping”, he said, pointing out that 184 Indians have made the supreme sacrifice in UN operations..
Singh said that “troop and police contributing countries should have a structured voice in shaping the mandates” the Council sets for them.
It is necessary to have an institutional mechanism for consultations with troop and police contributing countries before mandates are adopted or reviewed, he said.
Peacekeeping operations are most likely to succeed when there is a “broader political process with a clearly envisioned political outcome and commensurate resources for peacekeepers”, he said.
“We should ensure capability enhancement and commensurate resources at the point of authorisation”, he added.
–IANS
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