India criticises Security Council for failing to act on attacks on peacekeepers

United Nations India has criticised the Security Council for failing to take action against those attacking its peacekeepers and warned that inaction could have dangerous implications for the maintenance of international peace and securityAny lack of action by member states to penalize those who attack UN peacekeepers reflects poorly on the Security Council Asoke Kumar Mukerji Indias Permanent Representative told the Special Committee for Peacekeeping Operations TuesdayIf the Security Council fails to deter such attacks the very institution of UN peacekeeping will continue to be targeted across the world with dangerous implications for the maintenance of international peace and securityIndia is invested very heavily in the safety of peacekeepers because as Mukerji said it is the single largest contributor of troops to UN peacekeeping operations PKOs and our active participation in 11 out of the 15 active PKOs Currently 8145 Indian troops police and experts are serving in UN operationsSeveral countries echoed Indias positions on the safety of peacekeepers and several other issues raised by India Thai Military Advisor Orgrob Amarachgul speaking on behalf of the Association of SouthEast Asian Nations ASEAN condemned the attacks on peacekeepers and said that perpetrators must be held accountableMukerji referred to the several instances of attacks on peacekeepers mentioned in SecretaryGeneral Ban Kimoons report to the committee and said concrete action to bring those attacking peacekeepers to justice had been taken only in Darfur in Sudan and not in the othersBans report said that in the 12months period to last December 34 military peacekeepers were killed in attacks and 51 were wounded In Mali alone 27 peacekeepers were killed during that period and attacks continued with one soldier killed last month and at least eight were injured In another operation last year 45 peacekeepers in the observer force along the IsraelSyria border in the Golan Heghts were were abducted by the Islamic State and 72 were surrounded and confined to their baseIn his wideranging critique of how the Security Council runs the PKOs Mukerji warned that the changes in the mandates of UN peacekeeping operations have raised the risk to the bluehelmeted forces in its missions while also straining its capacity to function effectivelyHe said the High Level Panel set up by Ban last year to study PKOs and recommend changes should submit its report in time for the 70th UN anniversary summit in SeptemberMukerji cited the case of the mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo where the Council gave new interventionist mandates and reiterated New Delhis concern Indian troops are deployed thereLast year the Council expanded the PKOs mandate from protecting civilians and humanitarian workers to creating special brigades to carrying out offensive operations against militias making them take on an offensive role in a departure from the traditional defensive postureAmarchgul criticised the shift towards proactive peacekeeping which been done without proper debate or review of its legal implicationsAnother area of concern Mukerji said was requiring the peacekeeping troops to take on humanitarian and development programs These activities are essentially relevant to peacebuilding and not peacekeeping he said The two types of activities should be segregated he added It is for humanitarian and developmental actors and not military troopsMoroccan Ambassador Omar Hilale who represented the NonAligned Movement said the Council should draft clear achievable mandatesThe Councils failure to solve the underlying causes of the conflicts where its forces have been sent to maintain the peace was another area of concern according to Mukerji We are alarmed by the lack of any effective action by the Security Council to address the root political causes of the crisis in South Sudan he said citing it as an exampleThat 100000 civilians are being sheltered in UN military bases 19 million people are internal refugees and 25 million people are exposed to famine even as UN peacekeepers are laying down their lives to protect civilians in South Sudan he said places the future of UN peacekeeping in South Sudan into serious doubtIn the operations in Liberia spoke of the action taken by peacekeepers including women from India to deal with the Ebola crisis and sought clarification on the legal implications of the Council resolution calling on all UN bodies to help the in the fight against the epidemic