India and the United Nations Peacekeeping Operations

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Introduction to the Concept of United Nations Peacekeeping

United Nations Peacekeeping is exclusive and vigorous instruments developed by the United Nations Organisation as a way to help countries torn by conflict create the conditions for lasting peace. The first UN peacekeeping operation was established in 1948, when the Security Council authorised the deployment of the UN military observers to the Middle East to monitor the Armistice Agreement between Israel and its Arab neighbours. Since then there have been many peacekeeping operations around the world.

The term peacekeeping is not found in the UN Charter and it challenges simple meaning. It was first used by Dag Hammarskjold, the second UN Secretary General. He referred it to belonging to 'Chapter six and half' of the Charter, placing it between traditional methods of resolving disputes peacefully, such as negotiation and mediation and more forceful action, accredited under Chapter seven.

English: United Nations tanks at the Belgian compo...

English: Australian peacekeepers in East Timor. M1...

Locations of current UN peacekeeping missions

Since then, the UN peacekeeping has evolved to meet the demands of different national and political conflicts. Established during the Cold War era, the main objectives of the UN peacekeeping force was to monitor, and restricted to ceasefires, and steadying efforts on the ground, so that ways could be found to resolve the issue at political level itself, without any violence. The mission consisted of military observers and light-armed troops.

With the end of Cold War, the considered framework of the UN peacekeeping vividly changed, forcing the Organisation to change and enlarge its field operations from missions involving firmly military tasks to multifaceted enterprises structured for the purpose of implementing comprehensive peace agreements and assist in laying foundations for workable peace. Today peacekeepers carry out a wide range of difficult...