The 2,00,000 AstraZeneca vaccine doses donated by India to UN peacekeeping. Under Secretary General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix.

UN chief António Guterres

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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 has lost the highest number of its peacekeepers in various UN peacekeeping operations in the last 70 years, with 163 military, police and civil 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, 163 have been from India, the highest total from any troop contributing country.

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.

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.