India Deploys All Women Contingent For UN's Peacekeeping Missions

The first 22 member UN women contingent of the Sahastra Seema Bal (SSB) and the second CAPF Women contingent from India has been sent to the United Nations for Peacekeeping Missions. According to Syed Akbaruddin, India’s Permanent Representative to UN Ambassador, at the UN in New York, “India’s Female Engagement Team deployed in UN Peacekeeping is on way to assume duties in the Democratic Republic of Congo.”

India has a long, deep tradition of contributing to the Peacekeeping missions. According to the United Nations, India is the fourth among troop-contributing countries and so far.

On India sending peacekeepers to Africa, according to Africa expert Prof Ajay Dubey, Jawahar Lal Nehru University, “India is an emerging global power and it has been discharging its global responsibilities in peacekeeping and conflict management as one of the largest contributors to peacekeeping operations around the world including in Africa.” “Its initial involvement was in Congo. African countries see Indian peacekeeper presence as one of the most acceptable and non-partisan force,” Dubey adds.

The all women contingent sent for the UN Peacekeeping operations will now assume duties in Democratic Republic of Congo or MONUSCO, which is currently war hit. The contingent will be deployed as a rapidly deployable battalion of the Indian Army. Deployment of a female contingent is a part of UN’s attempt to involve women in the peacekeeping missions. The women contingent that is being deployed in MONUSCO will be involved in patrolling and engaging with the women and locals in the country.

The Democratic Republic of Congo, bordering Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi is the third largest country in the African continent. Due to internal disturbances, it has been placed under the UN. The First time that India deployed an all-women contingent was in 2007, for the UN Peacekeeping Missions.

India has a long, deep tradition of contributing to the peacekeeping missions. According to the United Nations, India is the fourth among troop-contributing countries so far, we have deployed more than 6700 troops and police to the peacekeeping missions.

The all-women contingent sent for the UN Peacekeeping operations will now be assuming duties in Democratic Republic of Congo or MONUSCO, which is currently war hit. The contingent will be deployed as a rapidly deployable battalion of the Indian Army.

Earlier this year, the Chinese Army had spread its footprints in Africa through Military Hardware Cooperation, the Indian Army then had a joint exercise with 17 African nations in Pune and were also given training in planning and conducting humanitarian mine assistance (HMA) and peacekeeping operations (PKO) under the UN Charter.

Women have been considered effective at peacekeeping missions, however they are underrepresented there. According to the study Women And Weapons: Redressing The Gender Gap: An Indian Response,  women empowerment might affect disarmament and non-proliferation efforts to a greater extent. But women’s influence over nuclear policy is dismally low! The policy states, “The natural differentiation between the sexes like perceiving man as the chief of the house has pervaded all the features of nuclear policy making.”  To confirm this, an example,  that of the Indian and Pakistani delegations to the 2013 Oslo and 2014 Nayarit conferences on the humanitarian impacts of nuclear detonations, can be given which did not have women representation. It is also true that women are more peace-loving than men and hence including them in the international matters that can result in a lesser number of wars, opens up the possibility of discussion and settlement through negotiations.

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