At the UN, Pakistan outlined current challenges faced by UN Peacekeeping and said inputs from Troop Contributing Countries (TCCs) were critical in formulating effective peacekeeping strategies, says a press release received here today from UN. Speaking at a well-attended meeting of the Group of Friends of Top Troop and Police Contributing Countries that Pakistan co-chairs with Morocco, Pakistan’s Ambassador to the UN, Maleeha Lodhi, said all stakeholders must act together to reduce reimbursement gaps currently faced by TCCs. Urging reduction of deployment time, Ambassador Lodhi said delays in deployment of troops cause major challenges and incur heavy costs for the TCCs as they could no longer use and deploy those assets for other national needs. “The time lag”, Ambassador Lodhi pointed out, “between a country’s offer to contribute an asset and actual deployment can range from a few months to, even a year at times”. She stressed that as these assets and capabilities were recognized as critical, we must work together to ensure that minimum time is wasted in deployment. “We owe this to the peacekeepers and those they are mandated to protect”, she added. Ambassador Lodhi also highlighted the need for peacekeepers to be adequately equipped to enable them to operate effectively in complex environments. Critical enablers, she underscored, were not only important in life and death situations but also strengthened the hands of peacekeepers and helped them achieve their mandates. Ambassador Lodhi said, as one of the world’s top troop and police contributors to UN Peacekeeping, Pakistan could share experiences and lessons learnt on generating critical capabilities. Calling for the need to streamline the process of transportation of assets, she said damages during transportation and unforeseen delays in processing the necessary port clearances created situations where TCCs suffered through no fault of their own. “While assets are rendered undeployable, compensation processes linger on”, she added. This was the first meeting of the Group of Top Troop and Police contributing countries this year. Among others, the meeting was attended by the Ambassador of Ethiopia, which is currently the largest troop contributor, Morocco, Egypt, China, Bangladesh, Zambia, Nigeria, Indonesia, Jordan, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Italy, Uruguay and Brazil. The Under-Secretary General of the UN Department of Operational Support, Atul Khare, briefed members of the Group about recent steps taken by the UN Secretariat to generate critical capabilities including training of officials and other key partnership programs. Morocco, in its capacity as the co-chair of the Group, said the Group was an important platform for troop contributing countries to share their experience and knowledge. The Group of Friends of Troop and Police Contributing Countries was set up by Ambassador Lodhi in 2017 in partnership with Morocco to discuss strategic issues affecting their personnel and to brainstorm responses to the new challenges facing modern peacekeeping. Since then the Group has emerged as a leading platform to discuss important matters related to peacekeeping and work closely with UN Secretariat to address common problems affecting peacekeepers on ground.
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