New Delhi (NVI): India on Thursday offered to share best practices with the UN and member states with respect to minimizing damages from IED development and proliferation and contribute towards capacity building, victim assistance and victim re-habilitation.
“We are willing to share best practices with member states and the United Nations with respect to minimizing damages from IED development and proliferation and stand ready to contribute towards capacity building, victim assistance and victim re-habilitation,” the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.
In his address to UN Security Council Open Debate on Mine action and sustaining peace: Stronger partnerships for better delivery, Secretary West in Ministry of External Affairs Vikas Swarup highlighted India’s contribution towards United Nations peacekeeping operations and assistance towards international de-mining and rehabilitation efforts, which includes training and capacity building.
He said India’s support to the efforts of United Nations and other agencies which have been working in conflict zones across the world and called for joint efforts to effectively combat the use of land mines and IEDs by terrorists.
“India supports the efforts of the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS), UNDP and other agencies which have been working in conflict zones across the world,” the MEA said in a statement.
He said we are also witnessing a similar trend in Mali, where peacekeepers have been targeted by IEDs. Such usage has only increased; we need to strongly condemn and take effective measures to combat this trend.
“The countries affected by landmines, particularly with conflict situations, require assistance. We need to provide assistance without politicizing the issue, since it is the people who suffer from this menace,” he said.
He said that India is fully committed to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons and is a signatory to all five of its Protocols.
“We believe that the availability of militarily effective alternative technologies that are also cost-effective can help facilitate the goal of complete elimination of APMs,” he said.
–PRT
