United Nations: India has said that a reform of the Security Council is essential for finding enduring peace in conflict situations because, ultimately, political solutions must support peacekeeping operations. "Peacekeeping cannot be the sole solution to conflicts," India's Permanent Representative P. Harish told the Security Council (UNSC) on Monday.

 "Peace holds when peacekeeping operations are accompanied by political solutions," and for this, it is "imperative to reform the UNSC in both categories (of membership, permanent and elected) to make it more reflective and representative of current geopolitical realities," he said during a debate on peacekeeping operations. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said peacekeeping was facing new challenges from a complex interplay of threats -- many of which "do not respect national borders." "Terror and extremist groups, organised crime, the weaponisation of new technologies, and the effects of climate change are all testing our capacities to respond," he said.

Harish also spoke of some of these factors challenging peacekeeping and offered India's help in training peacekeepers to meet them. "India is willing to curate and offer courses that address specific demands of modern peacekeeping at our Centre for UN Peacekeeping (CUNPK), which has been training national and international peacekeepers for over two decades," he said. About India's role in helping enhance peacekeeping, he referred to the First Conference for Women Peacekeepers from the Global South that brought together representatives from 35 troop and police-contributing countries. Guterres said that a review of all forms of peace operations is underway with "extensive consultations with Member States and others to inform -- and inspire -- recommendations." It "will aim to critically examine these tools and propose concrete recommendations to make them fit for today," he said.

He said that review will also seem to "ensure that peace operations are guided by clear and sequenced mandates that are realistic and achievable -- with viable exit strategies and transition plans." Harish, in his address, also called for clear mandates and "viable transition plans and exit strategies that ensure that the peace sustains." He reminded the Council about the construction of a Memorial Wall to honour the more than 4,000 peacekeepers, including 182 Indians, who died in the service of the UN's blue flag. He said the memorial envisaged in a General Assembly resolution introduced by India in 2003 should be completed at the earliest. 

(IANS)