New Delhi: External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar will be visiting New York during India's Presidency of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and will be presiding over two high-level signature events on August 18 and 19. The UNSC meeting begins today (Aug 16) and will conclude on Thursday (Aug 19). The first event on August 18, 2021, will be an Open Debate on 'Protecting the Protectors: Technology and Peacekeeping' while the second event on August 19, 2021, will be a high-level briefing on 'Threats to International Peace and Security caused by Terrorist Acts'.
Both the topics are priorities for India during its UNSC innings. The Open Debate on Peacekeeping will focus on the theme of 'Protecting the Protectors', including usage of modern technological tools to enhance the safety and security of Peacekeepers and to aid Peacekeeping Missions to effectuate their mandates effectively and efficiently. In this regard, India, in collaboration with the UN, would be rolling out the 'Unite Aware' platform, which is a situational awareness software programme that allows a Peacekeeping Operations Centre to visualize and analyze the ground situation in a conflict zone on a real-time basis.
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This project aims to demonstrate the impact of modern surveillance technology on the detection of asymmetric threats. The aim is to improve camp security for UN peacekeepers, the overall security situation, and the quality of situational awareness. India has partnered with the UN to roll out the 'Unite Aware' platform initially in four UN Peacekeeping Missions: MUNISMA (Mali), UNMISS (South Sudan), UNFICYP (Cyprus) and AMISOM (Somalia).
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in this regard will be inked between Government of India and the UN in support of the 'Partnership for Technology in Peacekeeping' initiative during the visit. The executing agencies for this MoU would be the Center for UN Peacekeeping (CUNPK - on the Indian side) and UN C4ISR Academy for Peace Operations (Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) based in Entebbe (Uganda) on the UN’s side.
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On 19 August, EAM would preside over a briefing session on the six-monthly report of the UN Secretary-General on the threat posed by ISIL/Da'esh, under the agenda item "Threats to International Peace and Security caused by Terrorist Acts”. During this visit, External Affairs Minister would also have bilateral meetings with Foreign Ministers of other Member States on the sidelines of these UNSC high-level events.
India took over the Presidency of the United Nations Security Council from France. This is India’s first Presidency during its 2021-22 tenure as a non-permanent member of the Security Council. The country will again preside over the Council in December next year, the last month of its two-year tenure. During this tenure, India will host events in three major areas, including maritime security, peacekeeping and counter-terrorism.
