Perpetrators of attacks against Blue Helmets must be held accountable: India at UN

File image for representation purposes. | Photo credit: AP

India has called for the perpetrators of attacks against UN peacekeepers to be held accountable, stressing that the Blue Helmets face asymmetric and technologically-enabled threats.

India is one of the largest contributors to UN peacekeeping operations and has deployed over 3,00,000 troops in 50 missions till date.

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“India promotes the security and protection of peacekeepers as one of the most important aspects of peacekeeping,” said the military adviser of the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations, Colonel Tarunendra Pratap Singh, on Thursday (November 5, 2026).

“Personnel today face asymmetric and technologically enabled threats and those who attack peacekeepers must be held accountable,” Colonel Singh said at the annual debate on a comprehensive review of the entire issue of peacekeeping in all its aspects.

He said India’s continued leadership in UN Security Council Resolution 2589 on responsibility for crimes against peacekeepers, adopted under Delhi’s August 2021 chairmanship of the 15-nation body, reflects the same belief.

He further said that since India considers peacekeeping to be “indispensable” to the core purpose of the UN, Delhi has prioritized it for its bid for the 2028-29 term of the Security Council as a non-permanent member.

“We reaffirm our unwavering commitment to UN peacekeeping and to a peacekeeping architecture that is better secured, better protected and more representative of the world itself,” Mr Singh said.

He also paid tribute to the 184 Indian peacekeepers who made the supreme sacrifice in their duty as Blue Helmets.

“India’s commitment to this indispensable cause is not just philosophical; it is fundamental, rooted in seven decades of operational deployments and shaped by the sweat and blood of our peacekeepers,” he said.

Mr Singh said in the debate that peacekeeping operations are most likely to succeed if they are accompanied by a wider political process, with a clear political outcome envisaged and adequate resources for peacekeepers.

“We should ensure enhanced capabilities and adequate resources at the point of approval. This will avoid the embarrassment of asking our peacekeepers to do more with less,” he said.

India also stressed the need for troop- and police-contributing countries to have a “structured voice” in shaping the mandates they implement. “Institutionalizing consultation with troop-contributing countries and police before adopting or reviewing mandates is essential,” Mr. Singh said.

Emphasizing that rationalization is not only necessary but natural, Mr. Singh said that aligning host state priorities with mission mandates is necessary to ensure that missions do not become long-term ancillary political tools.

“Missions sustained to support political life without an operational rationale drain resources needed elsewhere and undermine the credibility of peacekeeping operations as a whole,” he said.

Mr Singh also highlighted India’s deployment of women peacekeepers since 1960, believing that they “remain central to the fulfillment of the mandate”.

In 2007, India deployed the first ever all-female police force to Liberia, a contingent that earned global acclaim and demonstrated conclusively that women peacekeepers remain uniquely effective in peacekeeping.

India has currently deployed 160 women peacekeepers and from 2019 has deployed women’s deployment teams along with its contingents in various missions, Mr Singh said.

Published – November 6, 2026 11:16 AM IST