Islamabad, December 10, 2021 (PPI-OT):Minister of Defence, Mr. Pervez Khattak has urged the international community to reaffirm its commitment to multilateralism in order to promote global peace and strengthen UN peacekeeping architecture.
He made these comments today in a pre-recorded video message delivered at the virtual peacekeeping ministerial meeting hosted by the Republic of Korea, and co-chaired by Pakistan along with 10 other states – Bangladesh, Canada, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Japan, the Kingdom of Netherlands, Rwanda, Uruguay, the United Kingdom (UK), and the United States of America (USA) from 7th to 8th December 2021.
Pakistan also co-hosted the peacekeeping preparatory conference with Netherlands from 25th to 26th October, 2021. In his statement, the Defense Minister highlighted Pakistan’s longstanding contribution to UN peacekeeping, noting that over 200,000 Pakistani peacekeepers had served the UN peacekeeping missions during the last six decades.
He added that Pakistan was not only a major troop contributor, with over 3800 troops currently deployed in UN peace operations, but also a host to one of the oldest peacekeeping missions, the UN Military Observer Group. He stressed that Pakistan’s participation in peacekeeping stemmed from its continuous commitment to peace – in the region and beyond.
The Defence Minister urged the UN to play a greater role in conflict prevention and resolution of ongoing disputes to advance peace and security around the world. He also underscored the need to provide adequate resources and appropriate mandates to peacekeeping missions with a view to advancing the safety and security of peacekeepers and protection of vulnerable communities in conflict affected countries.
He underlined that peacekeeping should be complemented by peace building activities and recalled the longstanding tradition of Pakistani peacekeepers to hold free medical camps and restore physical infrastructure such as roads, schools, parks and bridges for populations affected by conflict.
As part of Pakistan’s efforts to support African and emerging troop contributing countries, he outlined the wide range of peacekeeping training courses offered by the Center for International Peace and Stability (CIPS) in Islamabad. He also highlighted the increase in number of Pakistani women peacekeepers in recent years and called on the UN member states to support equitable geographical representation of women in leadership positions in the UN field Missions.
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