Pakistan among top performers in UN peacekeeping: Maleeha

NEW YORK: Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Maleeha Lodhi on Thursday said that the country has been among the top performers in UN Peacekeeping and has contributed over 200,000 troops to 43 UN Missions since the 1960’s, says a press release.Participating in the Security Council debate on peacekeeping operations, Lodhi reminded the international body that 156 of Pakistan’s “bravest” soldiers have made the ultimate sacrifice while “serving the cause of peace”.

“Our contribution to Peacekeeping has not been without cost”’ Pakistan’s Ambassador to the UN, Maleeha Lodhi said while participating in the Security Council debate on Peacekeeping Operations, and added that “156 of our bravest have made the ultimate sacrifice while serving the cause of peace”,

Citing the recent closure of Missions in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Cote d’Ivoire as evidence of successful Peacekeeping, Ambassador Lodhi told the Council, “It is a humbling for us that in these missions, Pakistani peacekeepers were deployed. They accomplished their tasks, fulfilled their mandates and above all, they won hearts and minds”.

Ambassador Lodhi called for precise mandates and adequate resources for effective and efficient UN peacekeeping.“When mandates and capabilities are out of sync, efficiency and effectiveness inevitably suffer”, she added

At the time of creating and updating the mandates of missions, she said, the Security Council must base its decisions on practical analysis by the Secretariat of resource requirements. Welcoming the focus on performance, the Pakistani envoy said that improved performance would lead to better results and would also improve the safety and security of peacekeepers.

Ambassador Lodhi told the Council that Pakistan has developed peacekeeping training modules that form part of the curricula of its mandatory courses as professionalism in peacekeeping ensures excellence in service delivery. Pre-deployment training, she stressed, including common and standardized training, is vital for all Mission components. She expressed Pakistan’s willingness to share this expertise with other Troop Contributing Countries, and also with the UN.

Blue Helmets, she said, symbolize the UN commitment to regional and international peace, security and stability. “They are emblematic of the collective will and endeavour of all member states to make this world peaceful and stable”, she asserted.

"Enduring conflicts mean lives lost, families broken, people in camps, women and children left to languish in vulnerability”, she added.

UN peacekeeping, Ambassador Lodhi said, has saved and protected millions of lives and helped shattered communities and neighbourhoods rebuild themselves. It also replaces strife with harmony and turns despair into hope.

She said Pakistan will never shy away from any discussion on performance, or from supporting the establishment of an effective system to enhance it. Lodhi concluded his speech by saying that Pakistan believes all countries are stakeholders in this endeavour and have a shared responsibility.