Part of: Prelims and GS – II – Important International institutions, agencies
In news External Affairs Minister has announced the rollout of a situational awareness platform in partnership with the UN — ‘UNITE Aware’ — to help enhance the safety of UN peacekeepers.
UNITE AWARE is a mobile tech platform developed by India to provide terrain-related information to the UN peacekeepers so as to ensure their safety.
It is being developed in partnership with the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations and the Department of Operational Support.
India has spent 1.64 million USD for this project.
This initiative is based on the expectation that an entire peacekeeping operation can be visualized, coordinated, and monitored on a real-time basis.
What is peacekeeping?
The United Nations Peacekeeping operations are policing and peacebuilding actions carried out by the UN to bring order and stability in wartorn nations.
Every peacekeeping mission is authorized by the Security Council.
Composition:
Peacekeeping forces are contributed by member states on a voluntary basis.
UN peacekeepers (often referred to as Blue Berets or Blue Helmets because of their light blue berets or helmets) can include soldiers, police officers, and civilian personnel.
Civilian staff of peace operations are international civil servants, recruited and deployed by the UN Secretariat.
UN Peacekeeping is guided by three basic principles:
Consent of the parties.
Impartiality.
Non-use of force except in self-defence and defence of the mandate.
Do you know?
The top 5 providers of assessed contributions to United Nations Peacekeeping operations for 2020-2021 are:
