India, which has a long tradition of peacekeeping, can offer many suggestions to the UN to enhance the performance of peacekeepers and improve their capacities, the country's envoy to the world body has said.
Speaking at an open debate on the 'United Nations Peacekeeping Operations: Training and Capacity Building' on Tuesday, India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin said it is necessary to have properly equipped and well-trained personnel to meet expectations of deployment in challenging environments, to fulfil a range of mandates.
"Peacekeeping today is in the domain of a vaguely defined no-man's land. It lies somewhere between trying to keep the peace in fragile environments and trying to enforce the maintenance of peace, where there is none to keep," he said.
Responses to new security environments cannot be by merely ratcheting up traditional methodologies. They require a willingness to adapt abilities to meet emerging realities, as envisaged in the Secretary General's Action for Peace Initiative, he said.
India, as a country with a long tradition of peacekeeping, can offer many suggestions to enhance the performance and improve capacities, the Indian envoy said.
"To ensure performance in peacekeeping, the UN secretariat needs to carry out realistic assessment of contingents being selected and deployed in the mission area. Troop competencies need to be a critical requirement of selection criteria.
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"On the other hand, accountability of troop-contributing countries should entail adherence to training plans, including pre-deployment and in mission training, so that key mission tasks are not left to 'learning on the job," Akbaruddin said.
Capacity building and training benchmarks relating to prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, gender sensitivity, requirements of conduct and discipline, environmental standards are key ingredients, he said.
It is with this intent that India, last year, commenced funding of the UN's 'Pipeline to Peacekeeping Command Programme" focussing on conduct and discipline. Over a period of three years, this programme will help develop the capacity of future commanders and managers to lead by example and raise awareness of UN standards of conduct among personnel, Akbaruddin said.
"We welcome the initiative of Mobile Training Teams (MTTs) and Training of Trainers (TOTs) by pooling instructors from Member States. They are an innovative effort to impart training to new Troop Contributing Countries. In this way, UN experience can be shared with minimum financial implications.
"As importance of logistical support and 'enablers' grows, capacity building of enablers requires attention. Specialised units like field hospitals, engineering and signal companies already deployed in missions can provide training to core groups within the mission area enhancing capacities through in mission training," Akbaruddin said.
"India employs our UN peacekeeping experience to partner with other member states in capacity building initiatives in a very tangible manner. One such example is our recent successful co-deployment initiative with Kazakhstan in UNIFIL in Lebanon," he said.
India's Centre for UN Peacekeeping (CUNPK) conducts mission specific pre-deployment training to ensure the highest standards of performance for the troops being deployed. It also conducts international courses based on UN guidelines. The effort is to build capacity for Military Observers, Contingent Officers, Staff & Logistics Officers and Female Officers. In order to enhance effectiveness, peacekeepers are also trained in French and Arabic, he said.
"India has recently concluded a field training exercise on UN peacekeeping with 18 African countries. We are planning to do more.
"Training is not only a pre-requisite to fulfil mandates, it is a must to ensure safety and security in difficult environments. Let me conclude by rephrasing a well-known military adage to suit current peacekeeping environments, the more peacekeepers sweat in times of peace, the less they bleed in situations of conflict," Akbaruddin added.