India lashes out against 'powerless' UN Security Council

United Nations Calling the Security Council ineffective and powerless India has lashed out against its lack of accountability and transparency in mandating peacekeeping operations and blamed it for the rising casualties among peacekeepersWe are dismayed at the opaque manner in which the Security Council continues to mandate peace operations without any accountability or transparency Indias Permanent Representative Asoke Kumar Mukerji said Monday at a General Assembly session on peacekeeping operationsThe human costs of this failing are evident in both the rising number of casualties among UN peacekeepers as well as an alarming growth in the number of civilians now reaching 60 million according to the Secretary General whose lives are being disrupted by the conflicts that an ineffective Security Council is powerless to resolve Mukerji addedAs of the end of September 85 peacekeepers have died this yearMukerji appealed to Assembly President Mogens Lykketoft to take the lead to prioritise agreement on an early reform of the Security Council during this 70th SessionHe also reiterated Indias consistent demand the implementation in letter and spirit the UN Charter provisions that require the Security Council to consult with troopproviding countries when issuing peacekeeping mandatesSpeaking at the session SecretaryGeneral Ban Kimoon also backed the call for better coordination between the Security Council and the troopcontributors A shared understanding of the tasks involved between the Security Council and the troop and police contributing countries was required as was cooperation with national actors and local communities he saidThe session was centered on Bans report on implementing the recommendations of the High Level Independent Panel on Peace Operations HIPPO which was headed by Jose RamosHorta and included Abhijit Guha a retired Indian lieutenant generalMukerji said that implementation report had great importance for India which is the largest overall troop contributor to UN peace operations with over 185000 troops that have served in 48 of the 69 UN missions India currently has 7794 personnel under UNs blue flagPrime Minister Narendra Modi has offered to increase Indias troopcontribution by 10 percent when he participated at a summit on peacekeeping last month Mukerji said India would also be adding three police battalions with a high proportion of women and provide training for peacekeepers from other nations he addedMukerji welcomed the renewed focus on prevention and mediation in Bans plan for implementing the HIPPO All the 42 speakers at the session supported the emphasis on political solutions to end or prevent conflicts to maintain peaceSouth Asian countries are the among the largest contributor of personnel to the UN peacekeeping operations Bangladesh which is currently the largest contributor has 9432 personnel in UN missions Pakistan 7533 and Nepal 5346Pakistans Permanent Representative also welcomed the proposal for better consultations with troopcontributing countries Like many others she opposed deploying peacekeepers for counterterrorism operationsBangladesh Deputy Permanent Representative Sadia Faizunnesa called for involving all the countries sending troops to the UN operations in implementing the HIPPO recommendations