Pakistan to host meeting on safety and security of UN peacekeepers

Pakistan this week is hosting a two-day meeting on the safety and security of UN peacekeepers, laying the groundwork for a larger meeting on UN peacekeeping missions later this year.

The two-day meeting in Islamabad will be co-hosted by Japan starting Wednesday at the Centre for International Peace and Stability, Pakistan’s premier training institute offering courses, workshops, and seminars to UN peacekeepers from all over the world, said a Foreign Ministry statement on Monday.

Caretaker foreign and defence ministers of Pakistan will speak at the meeting, apart from members representing the 156-nation UN Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations.

Senior UN Secretariat officials will also be present, including the under-secretary-general for peacekeeping operations, the under-secretary-general for operational support, and the UN police advisor.

"Panel discussions will be held during the two-day meeting on various sub-themes to deliberate on capacity-building needs; safety and security of UN peacekeepers from the perspective of international law; enhancing the medical capacity of UN peacekeeping missions; and leveraging technology and strategic communication," the statement said.

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There will also be an expert talk on the threats posed by improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and a briefing on the system of pledging.

Pakistan is one of the world's largest UN troop contributors, having provided over 230,000 peacekeepers to 46 UN peacekeeping missions on almost every continent since 1960.

Some 172 Pakistani peacekeepers have been killed while serving in UN peacekeeping missions in various parts of the world.

The ministerial meeting set to be held in Ghana in December, for which this week’s event is preparatory, is the seminal high-level event for UN peacekeeping, held every two years with the participation of the foreign and defence ministers of the member states.

This week’s meeting hosted in Islamabad is one of four preparatory meetings with a focus on specific areas to facilitate concrete outcomes for improving UN peacekeeping operations.