Indian peacekeepers lead in fatalities as Blue Helmets turn 75

The UN Peacekeeping completes 75 years of service this year, with 71 missions under its belt. Over a million men and women from 125 countries have served, and thousands have lost their lives in these peacekeeping missions over the years.

India, which is the third highest contributor of troops to UN Peacekeeping, has had the highest fatalities, UN data shows. Indian troops have also shown the highest number of deaths due to `malicious acts’.

As many as 4,319 peacekeepers have died on duty till date, with 1,117 of them being killed by ‘malicious acts’.

According to data from the UN, 178 peacekeepers from India have died over the years on duty, with as many as 69 of them being dead due to malicious acts and 51 by accidents.

After India, peacekeepers from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nigeria have seen the most number of fatalities.

Peacekeepers are dispatched to conflict zones and areas affected by hostilities to maintain peace and stability. They are tasked with monitoring ceasefires, protecting civilians, and facilitating humanitarian efforts to support peaceful resolutions to conflicts.

Peacekeeping missions by the UN began in 1948 when the Security Council authorised the deployment of military observers to the Middle East to monitor the Armistice Agreement between Israel and its Arab neighbours.

Higher number of deaths in recent decades

Although the number of fatalities have varied over the years, records show that the number of deaths during peacekeeping missions in the last two decades have been consistently higher than earlier

While the number of deaths had only crossed the 100-mark four times before 2003, it has remained in triple digits since then, with the 90 deaths recorded in 2007 and 99 deaths recorded in 2018 being the only exceptions. There have been 33 deaths recorded this year so far.

India is the third-largest contributor of troops

Nearly 77,000 troops from 123 countries currently serve in the various UN peacekeeping missions across the world. Bangladesh contributes the largest number of troops with 7,278 personnel, accounting for 9.49 percent of the total.

Nepal with 6,231 peacekeepers is the second largest contributor of troops, while India comes in third with 6,089 troops.

Most of the Indian peacekeepers are deployed in the mission in South Sudan, followed by the mission in the Congo, as can be seen from the chart below.

Abysmal participation from developed economies

Notably, the majority of the UN Peacekeeping troops come from low or middle income countries. The contribution from the Global North, including those that are a part of the Security Council which determines when and where a peace operation should be deployed, remain abysmally low.

Apart from China, which contributes 2,274 troops — the 10th highest — the combined figure for troops from France, Russia, the UK and the US stands at just 1,010. The US, which has the largest defence budget in the world, currently contributes just 35 troops to UN Peacekeeping.