General Assembly Security Council

Statement by Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin, Permanent Representative, at the Security Council meeting  on UN Peacekeeping Operations: Sexual Exploitation and Abuse on   March 10, 2016
 

Thank you, Mr. President,    
 

Thank you for providing  us an opportunity to express our views on what are extraordinarily disturbing issues.

 

Mr. President,
 

We share the Secretary General's distress, so passionately articulated in his oral briefing and in his Report to the General Assembly.
 

I will be very brief. As a country which has provided peacekeepers to 48 of the 68 United Nations Peacekeeping Operations and as a country which has the largest cumulative troops contributed to the United Nations, we are deeply disturbed by this rising phenomenon.
 

We have contributed our troops because we see peacekeeping as a shining example of the International Community's commitment to collective security.   So, to us, it is very worrisome that the protectors are now being widely perceived as predators.
 

Mr. President,
 

We in India, have a policy of zero tolerance.  In our approach there is no hesitation or reluctance. It would be immoral if there was so. There are aberrations that have taken place in United Nations peacekeeping, these are abhorrent and repugnant.    This is particularly so, given the confidence that has been reposed in blue helmets and in this organization.
 

Mr. President,
 

The malaise that  we are confronting is not one merely of enforcing compliance but of setting norms. What we are venturing into, is emphasizing on values of universal application.
 

The approach and cures that are being mentioned require a format that is more broad-based and more inclusive than merely being addressed as a matter of peace and security.
 

What we need  to do is to send a message that we are together in addressing it, not a feeling that we are addressing it as a command issue. Regaining our collective reputation as exemplars of universal idealism is too important a matter to be confined to a few. It requires participation of all, not least, troop contributing countries.
 

Yes that may be difficult and yes that may be frustrating and slow but if the medium is the message  then the message we ought to convey can be only through a more inclusive format. Anything less will be, in our view, not conveying the same message. That said, we will continue to support the effort to implement United Nations Zero Tolerance policy.
 

We will continue to work with other Members States in this endeavor and the Secretary General will have our full cooperation in this effort.
 

I thank you, Mr. President.