Being a front runner among the peace keeping nations, India has contributed US $100,000 (RS 67,14,945) to a trust fund set up for victims of sexual exploitation and abuse by peacekeepers and by doing so, India is the first country to make a contribution to the fund.
What is Peace keeping?
Peacekeeping has unique strengths, including legitimacy, burden sharing, and an ability to deploy and sustain troops and police from around the globe, integrating them with civilian peacekeepers to advance multidimensional mandates. UN Peacekeeping is guided by three basic principles:
- Consent of the parties;
- Impartiality;
- Non-use of force except in self-defense and defense of the mandate.
Peacekeeping is flexible and over the past two decades has been deployed in many configurations. There are currently 16 UN peacekeeping operations deployed on four continents.
Peacekeeping has proven to be one of the most effective tools available to the UN to assist host countries navigate the difficult path from conflict to peace.
Peacekeeping has always been highly dynamic and has evolved in the face of new challenges. Recently, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon established a 17-member High-level Independent Panel on UN Peace Operations to make a comprehensive assessment of the state of UN peace operations today, and the emerging needs of the future.
Every Member State is legally obligated to pay their respective share towards peacekeeping. The top 10 contributors for the peace keeping operations are:-
- United States (28.38%)
- Japan (10.83%)
- France (7.22%)
- Germany (7.14%)
- United Kingdom (6.68%)
- China (6.64%)
- Italy (4.45%)
- Russian Federation (3.15%)
- Canada (2.98%)
- Spain (2.97%)
India’s contribution:-
- India contributed USD 100,000 to a trust fund set up for victims of sexual exploitation and abuse.
- With this contribution, the Government of India has illustrated its strong commitment to our victim-centered approach in addressing sexual exploitation and abuse by UN civilian and uniformed personnel.
- The UN had faced severe backlash over allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation by its peacekeepers, particularly those in Central African Republic.
- UN also announced the launch of a new mandatory e-learning programmed for all uniformed and civilian personnel to strengthen training on the standards of conduct, as well as the expectations of accountability and individual responsibility in matters of conduct and discipline, with a special focus on sexual exploitation and abuse.
