https://arab.news/w64ta
- Its envoy calls peace operations central to the UN’s work, seeks necessary financial backing for them
- Pakistan urges civilian protection at the core of operations, accountability for attacks on peacekeepers
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan told the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday countries contributing to UN peacekeeping missions should be given a greater voice in decision-making processes, saying they carry the burden in the field but are excluded from crucial choices that impact the operations.
Pakistan has been one of the UN’s leading troop contributors for over seven decades, having sent more than 250,000 of its personnel serving in 48 missions around the world. The country also hosts one of the oldest UN missions, the Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan deployed in Jammu and Kashmir.
At least 182 Pakistani peacekeepers have died while serving under the UN flag.
“Troop- and police-contributing countries, which shoulder the burden in the field, remain mostly excluded from crucial decisions,” Pakistan’s UN Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad told an open debate on the future of peace operations, co-sponsored by Pakistan and Denmark. “This divide between ‘mandate drafters’ and ‘mandate implementers’ must end.”
Ahmad maintained UN peacekeeping, long hailed as one of multilateralism’s success stories, was now under siege, starved of resources and constrained in mandates.
With no new mission deployed since 2014 and several shutting down, he said the secretary-general’s review on the future of peace operations was critical to restore confidence.
The Pakistani envoy outlined priorities, including the protection of civilians at the center of operations, strengthening accountability for attacks on peacekeepers, empowering missions to support political settlements, and adapting to emerging challenges such as climate risks and the need for more women peacekeepers.
Ahmed said his country saw peacekeeping as central to the Council’s work and urged member states to provide adequate political and financial backing.
“Peace operations ... are proven, effective instruments of peace,” he said. “We must protect and strengthen them by investing strategically in their long-term success.”