India proposes UN peacekeepers’ memorial wall

TS Tirumurti

Former Ambassador of India to United Nations

History will be made in the UN General Assembly today (June 14) when India will table the draft resolution on the ‘Memorial Wall for Fallen United Nations Peacekeepers’. India uploaded this draft resolution on the UN website three weeks ago and now has an unprecedented 190 member states out of 193 as co-sponsors, including Pakistan and China. This is huge. The highest number of co-sponsors earlier for an Indian resolution was 177 member states for the International Day of Yoga.

India has been the largest contributor of UN peacekeepers of more than 2,60,000 troops over six decades. They have been recognised for their professional excellence, commitment and integrity. Tragically, 177 Indian peacekeepers have also made the supreme sacrifice in UN peacekeeping missions — the largest till date. It is, therefore, natural that India has been taking the lead on almost all issues on UN peacekeeping. The initiative to table a draft resolution for a memorial wall is one such initiative.

It was around the beginning of 2022 that the Permanent Mission of India in New York decided to take steps to operationalise the earlier recommendation of the UN Committee on Peacekeeping C-34 for establishing such a memorial wall. It was felt that there would be no better way to remember the sacrifices of more than 4,000 soldiers of the world who have died for the principles and ideals of the UN. Their sacrifices continue — with a toll of almost 400 peacekeepers killed in deliberate attacks in the past 10 years from improvised explosive devices, rocket-propelled grenades, artillery fire, mortar rounds, landmines, ambushes, suicide attacks and targeted assassinations.

Indian officials discussed this project with UN officials and experts and soon put the money where the mouth is by immediately funding a feasibility study. The journey has culminated in this historic resolution being tabled now.

The north lawns of the UN Headquarters in New York currently host a UN Peacekeeping Memorial site which is an abstract art and water installation without any details of the fallen soldiers. A memorial wall should recognise every individual sacrifice made. A life given by a man or woman in service of the UN goes beyond the call of duty and inscribing individual names on a memorial is essential.

The initiative by India for such a memorial comes not a day too soon as the role of UN peacekeeping and the safety and security of the peacekeepers are subjects of serious debate and contention in the UN. The major donors from the West have been pushing for an enhanced and robust mandate for the UN peacekeeping missions, which is effectively putting the peacekeepers in harm’s way. The troop-contributing countries have hardly any say in shaping these mandates, though they contribute almost all the troops in hostile terrains.

UN peacekeeping has always been seen as an indispensable arm of the UN to preserve peace and protect civilians, especially women and children. India’s pioneering role in protecting civilians is well documented. However, with increasing conflict zones, especially in Africa, and the surge of terrorism, especially Islamic jihadist terror, combined with a diminishing focus being given to the political process for resolving conflicts, more and more responsibility has been thrust on the UN peacekeepers instead of focusing on strengthening the national security forces of the host state and on political solutions. UN peacekeepers are being sent into combat situations without adequate clarity of their mandate or adequate safety and security backup.

India pioneered and sponsored the UNITE Aware platform which was launched during our presidency of the UN Security Council in August 2021. This is a digital platform to share real-time terrain intelligence to enhance the safety of the peacekeepers. However, much more needs to be done by the UN in this area. As threat increases, so does the danger to life and so should the UN’s ability to protect the peacekeepers — protect the protectors.

In fact, during its presidency in August 2021, India organised, for the first time, an open debate on technology and peacekeeping for ‘protecting the protectors’. The UNSC adopted a presidential statement on ‘Technology for Peacekeeping’. During the height of Covid-19, India donated 2,00,000 doses of vaccine for all UN peacekeepers around the world.

India is a pioneer in women-led UN peacekeeping when Indian women peacekeepers went to Liberia in 2007 to lead the first-ever women UN police peacekeeping contingent, which inspired a whole generation of Liberian women to take part in the country’s security sector. They follow in the finest pioneering tradition of the Rani of Jhansi regiment of the Indian National Army of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. Recently, we deployed an all-women platoon of Indian peacekeepers in Abyei (Africa).

Keeping in mind that hardly anyone is prosecuted for impunity crimes against peacekeepers, during its August 2021 presidency, India spearheaded a resolution on peacekeeping on the ‘Accountability of Crimes against UN Peacekeepers’, which the Security Council adopted. This initiative was widely welcomed and followed by the establishment of the ‘Group of Friends’ during India’s December 2022 presidency.

Even as this memorial wall project makes its way through the UN, let’s not forget that every life lost in peacekeeping is a life lost for protecting world peace. Future generations should remember each one of the bravehearts for making this world a safer place.

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