India – ASEAN initiative for women in UNPK operations

 Context– As part of the 2020 proposal by defence minister Rajnath Singh, an initiative on women in United Nations Peacekeeping (UNPK) Operations and of expanding India -ASEAN(Association of SouthEast  Asian Nations) defense Cooperation, India is set to conduct two initiatives for women personnel  from South East Asia .

 Key highlights:  

•  One of the initiatives under the ‘India – ASEAN initiative for women in UNPK operations’ includes conduct of tailor-made courses for women peacekeepers of ASEAN member states at the Centre for United Nations Peacekeeping (CUNPK) established in New Delhi to impart training in peacekeeping operations to 12,000 troops every year and host foreign delegations in India.
•  20 peacekeepers, two from each country, will be trained, the other initiative is a Tabletop exercise for women officers from ASEAN,incorporating facets of the UNPK challenges to be conducted in December.

 About UNPK:

• The United Nations Peacekeeping (UNPK) is an effort of the Department of operational support and Department of peace operations of the U.N. involved to establish  peace and stability in war stricken and disturbed locations around the world.
•  The financial resources are handled by the UN member states. 
• The UN peacekeepers are also referred to as the blue helmets or blue berets because of the blue helmets their troops wear and they include police officers, soldiers and civilian personnel.
•  March 29, 2023 marked the 75th UN peacekeeping day. On this day in 1948 , the first UN peacekeeping mission “ U.N. The Truce supervision Organization began operations in Palestine.
•  India has participated in 51 of 71 missions  with its troops deployed in Congo, South Sudan, Lebanon, and Golan heights and at other locations.
•  India is one of the largest troop contributing nations to the UNPK and currently has around 5900 troops deployed in 12 U.N.missions. India has deployed female engagement teams to the Democratic Republic of Congo as part of the UN’s Stabilization mission
•  India has contributed 2,75,000 troops to peacekeeping missions so far and 159 Indian Army soldiers have lost their lives across the globe.

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