India underlines importance of reassessing UNSC’s approach towards peacekeeping

New Delhi, Sep 07: India has presented a 10 point formula to address security and operational challenges faced by the United Nations peacekeeping missions around the world. This comes a month after two peacekeeping troops were killed in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

India's permanent representative to the UN, Ruchira Kamboj said that such missions were becoming challenging in the face of growing violence across conflict theatres with a diminishing focus on political process.

"Today, UN peacekeeping is becoming increasingly challenging in the face of growing violence across conflict theaters, with a diminishing focus on the political process," India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj said while addressing the UNSC briefing on United Nations Peacekeeping Operations on Tuesday.

Kamboj highlighted that it is important that peacekeeping missions are given clear and realistic mandates, which are also matched equally by adequate resources. The Council needs to avoid terminologies and formulations while crafting Mission mandates that may generate false hopes and expectations, she said.

"This anomaly should be rectified sooner than later," she said. She also stressed that all out efforts need to be made to bring perpetrators of crimes against peacekeepers to justice.

The UNSC needs to call on host nations to ensure implementation of measures adopted by the Council under Resolution 2589 of 2021 to address the issue of impunity of crimes against peacekeepers.

"We should strengthen capabilities of the host States' security forces by providing them adequate training and logistical support," she said.

"The Council should support the role of regional and subregional organisations in mediation, the monitoring of ceasefires, assistance to the implementation of peace accords and post-conflict rebuilding," Kamboj also added.

"There are several examples of redundant peacekeeping missions which continue to be a drain on UN's depleting resources. Given the spate of spiraling conflict zones across the global landscape, retention of redundancy at the cost of minimizing efficiency in other critical peacekeeping operations is uncalled for," she added.

"India, in line with its time-tested credentials and experience in this domain, stands ready to support any sincere effort in that regard," she also said.