UN: ‘India is at the forefront in peace missions, playing a role in ensuring accountability for crimes’, said UN peace chief

Jean-Pierre LaCroix – Photo: X/Jean-Pierre LaCroix

UN: UN Under-Secretary-General Jean-Pierre Lacroix praised India on the occasion of International Peacekeepers Day. He said that India plays a major role in the field of peace security, it plays an important role in ensuring accountability for crimes against peacekeepers.

India plays a very important role in the field of peace and security. It not only contributes to peace missions through its soldiers, but also leads many efforts such as ensuring accountability for crimes against peacekeepers. Jean-Pierre LaCroix, head of the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping, said this.

This comment by Jean-Pierre LaCroix, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations at the United Nations, came during a press briefing on the occasion of International United Nations Peacekeepers Day on Thursday. He also came to New Delhi on 24-25 February, when the first Women Peacekeepers Conference was organized by India. Women peacekeepers from 35 countries participated in the conference. The role of women in peacekeeping and the challenges faced were discussed in it.

LaCroix said that India is one of the largest contributors of peacekeepers and police force and India also plays a leading role in the case of women peacekeepers.

He said that it is necessary to increase the number of women in peace missions and involve them in political processes so that efforts to maintain peace are successful. It is not an ideology, but a reality that women’s participation strengthens peace efforts.

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In a press conference with UN Women Military Advisor Major General Sheryl Pierce, LaCroix said that the number of women is increasing, but more efforts are needed, especially in senior positions. India is the fourth largest troop contributor to UN peacekeeping missions. It has so far deployed more than 5,300 soldiers and policemen in areas like Africa, Lebanon, Somalia, South Sudan and Western Sahara.

India was the first country to send an all-women police unit to Liberia in 2007. In January 2023, India sent the largest contingent of women peacekeepers to the Abyei Mission (disputed area located on the border of Sudan and South Sudan).

In December 2022, India launched a ‘Group of Friends’ during its presidency of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to enhance accountability for crimes against peacekeepers and launched a new database that records crimes and helps bring the guilty to justice.