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India in collaboration with the UN launched UNITE AWARE

India in collaboration with the UN launched UNITE AWARE

  • External Affairs Minister, S. Jaishankar, Presiding over a United Nations Security Council open debate on technology and peacekeeping, has announced the unveiling of a technological platform in partnership with the UN, ‘UNITE Aware’.
  • India has assumed the Presidency of the 15-nation UN Security Council for the month of August.
  • The technological platform will enhance the safety of UN peacekeepers.

UNITE Aware:

  • UNITE Aware, developed by India, is a mobile tech platform to provide terrain-related information to the UN peacekeepers so as to ensure their safety.
  • India has spent USD 1.64 million on the project and is developing it in partnership with the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations and Department of Operational Support.
  • This initiative is based on the expectation that an entire peacekeeping operation can be visualised, coordinated and monitored on a real-time basis.
  • The platform will be deployed initially in four UN Peacekeeping Missions: MINUSMA (Mali), UNMISS (South Sudan), UNFICYP (Cyprus) and AMISOM (Somalia).

The External Affairs Minister also outlined a four-point framework for securing the peacekeepers.

  1. Need of deployment of proven, cost-effective, field-serviceable technologies that were environmentally friendly in their construction.
  2. Peacekeepers needed sound information and intelligence
  3. Require precise positioning and overhead visualisation
  4. Need to invest in capacity building and training of peacekeepers with regard to technology.

United Nations Peacekeeping:

  • UN Peacekeeping helps countries navigate the difficult path from conflict to peace.
  • It is an ability to deploy and sustain troops and police from around the globe, integrating them with civilian peacekeepers to advance multidimensional mandates.
  • Every peacekeeping mission is authorized by the Security Council.
  • It is a global partnership of the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Secretariat, troop and police contributors and the host governments in a combined effort to maintain international peace and security.
  • Every UN Member State is legally obligated to pay their respective share for peacekeeping.

It is guided by three basic principles:

  • Consent of the parties
  • Impartiality
  • Non-use of force except in self-defence and defence of the mandate.

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