India will launch ‘UNITE AWARE’, a mobile tech platform for the United Nations Peacekeepers to improve their safety and security in the line of duty. It will be launched during India’s United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Presidency term in August 2021 (Presidency of the UNSC Council is held by each of the members in turn for one month).
i.UNITED AWARE will increase the situational awareness of the peacekeepers by providing terrain-related information.
ii.India has spent USD 1.64 million for the project and is developing it in partnership with the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations and Department of Operational Support.
iii.The information about the platform was shared by India’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador K Nagaraj Naidu during his virtual address to UNSC Open Debate ‘Peacekeeping Operations: Improving safety and security of peacekeepers’.
UN Peacekeeping Force
The Union Nations Peacekeeping mission began in 1948, it is a role held by the UN’s Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPO).
i.Peacekeeping force are deployed to maintain or re-establish peace in an area of armed conflict. There are 87, 889 personnel serving in 12 peacekeeping operations around the world (as of March, 2021).
ii.Due to deployment in conflict zones, they face various kinds of malicious attacks including usage of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs).
- Since 2013, More than 260 Peacekeepers have died due to malicious attacks.
- India is one of the largest troop contributing countries to UN peacekeeping missions. It has contributed more than 250, 000 troops in 49 missions over the years.
- It also gifted 200, 000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine for UN peacekeepers across all UN missions.
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January 8, 2021, Permanent Representative of India to UN TS Tirumurti stated that India will head 3 Important Committees of UNSC – Counter-Terrorism Committee (for 2022), Taliban Sanctions Committee (also called the 1988 Sanctions Committee) & Libya Sanctions Committee.
About UN’s Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPO)
Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations – Jean-Pierre Lacroix
Headquarters – New York, USA
About United Nations Security Council (UNSC):
Established in 1945
Headquarters – New York, USA
Security Council President (for May 2021) – China
