The United Nations (UN) General Assembly have unanimously backed India’s efforts to honour with a monument the more than 4,300 Blue Helmets who made the supreme sacrifice in the cause of peace and adopted a resolution proposed by India and co-sponsored by 190 members to create the peacekeepers’ memorial.

The highest number of peacekeepers from any country killed in UN operations – 178 – is from India, which has contributed the most number of personnel for peacekeeping-the largest till date.

ISSUES

UN peacekeepers are being sent into combat situations without adequate clarity of their mandate or adequate safety and security backup.

The troop-contributing countries have hardly any say in shaping the mandate for the UN peacekeeping missions, though they contribute almost all the troops in hostile terrains.

UN current Secretary-General is António Guterres.

INDIA’S ROLE IN PEACEKEEPING OPERATIONS

India is a founding member of the United Nations. In the UN peace-Keeping
and peace making operations India’s contribution has been significant. Today India is making large and simultaneous troop commitments than past. Along with this, India’s willingness to take risks and sustain its commitment in hazardous operations has demonstrated its ‘reliability’ as a peace-keeper. India’s contribution to the United Nations rose 55% to Rs 244 crore in 2015-16.

India is currently the third largest contributor of uniformed personnel to UN Peacekeeping, with over 6,000 military and police personnel deployed to Abyei, the Central African Republic, Cyprus, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lebanon, the Middle East and Western Sahara.

India has lost the highest number of its peacekeepers in various UN
peacekeeping operations in the last 70 years, with 177 military, police and civilian personnel from the country laying down their lives in the line of duty.

According to the UN, of the 3,737 peacekeepers who have died since 1948, 177 have been from India, the highest total from any troop-contributing
country.  More than 2,53,000 Indians have served in 49 of the 71 UN Peacekeeping missions established around the world since 1948.

India is currently the second largest contributor of military and police
personnel to UN peacekeeping, with 6,693 now deployed in Abyei, Cyprus, Congo, Haiti, Lebanon, the Middle East, South Sudan and Western Sahara.

India continued to provide commanders, armed military contingents, military observers, and staff officers, as also Indian Air Force attack and utility helicopters, to many of the UN missions deployed to keep the peace in various parts of the world.

India has also provided police personnel to a number of United Nations
missions As in Namibia, Western Sahara, Cambodia, Haiti, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Congo, Liberia (where it has created
history by providing all-women formed police units that has drawn
acclaim locally as well as internationally) and in Sudan/South Sudan. India has also been contributing to the United Nations Peace building Fund.

Recently we deployed an all-women platoon of Indian peacekeepers in Abyei(Africa)

The Indian Army has also undertaken various humanitarian tasks
besides the operational tasks in the Mission Areas to create an enviable
reputation for itself, like conduct of Jaipur Foot Projects in Lebanon, medical camps for the locals, veterinary camps, AIDS awareness camps, construction of schools, play grounds and temporary shelters, digging of bore wells, constructing check dams for water harvesting, running vocational training institutes for self-employment, organizing sports functions for local school children and assistance for resettlement and rehabilitation.

Participation in UN peacekeeping operations represented a
significant means by which India could demonstrate both its Third World credentials and its continuing commitment to the ideals and ethos of the United Nations.