India supports No National Caveats Policy at UN deployments

India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador TS Tirumurti has said that the UN peacekeeping missions should not operate in perpetuity and there is urgent need for time-bound exit strategies to ensure they do not become instruments for "furthering political interests". He said, the current peacekeeping operations are multi-dimensional and are called upon to not only maintain peace and security but also to facilitate the political processes, protect civilians, disarm combatants, support elections, protect and promote human rights and restore the rule of law. he said at the General Debate on Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations on Monday.

Tirumurti said India has always voiced its support for the adoption of “No National Caveats Policy” at UN peacekeeping deployments. Highlighting India’s perspective on priority issues in UN peacekeeping, he said performance of peacekeeping operations should be measured in relation to political and operational realities, priorities set for implementing mandate, and adequacy and appropriateness of resources.President of the UN General Assembly Volkan Bozkir said the COVID-19 pandemic has put additional challenges to the already complex peacekeeping operations. Peace operations are also supporting government-led efforts to both prevent and prepare for COVID-19 outbreaks at the country level.