UN security council unanimously adopts resolution under India’s presidency
The UN Security Council, currently being presided over by India, on Wednesday unanimously adopted for the first time a resolution on ensuring accountability for crimes committed against UN peacekeepers besides calling on member states hosting peacekeeping operations to bring to justice perpetrators responsible for killing and committing acts of violence against the Blue Helmets.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar chaired an open-debate under India’s presidency of the Security Council on UN peacekeeping operations with the theme of “Protecting the protectors: technology and peacekeeping”, the second signature event held as India presides over the powerful 15-member UN body for the month of August.
At the meeting, two significant outcome documents were unanimously adopted and overwhelmingly supported – a Presidential Statement on “Peacekeeping and Technology” and a Resolution on “Accountability of crimes against UN Peacekeepers.”
Under the Indian Presidency, the Security Council unanimously adopted for the first time the resolution that calls for ensuring accountability for crimes committed against UN peacekeepers.
In line with India’s focus on peacekeeping, the Presidential Statement (PRST) in the UNSC was the first to be adopted that focused exclusively on utilising technology to assist peacekeepers.
The PRST encourages the use of modern technology for improving the performance, safety and security of peacekeepers who are operating in increasingly complex and risky environments.
Through the resolution, the Security Council “calls upon Member States hosting or having hosted United Nations peacekeeping operations to take all appropriate measures in accordance with their national law and international law as applicable to bring to justice perpetrators of the killing of, and all acts of violence against United Nations personnel, including, but not limited to, their detention and abduction.”
This was the first such Security Council resolution that calls for prevention, investigation and prosecution to bring the perpetrators to justice.