(United Nations) The UN Security Council, on the initiative of Mexico, adopted a resolution on Wednesday urging peacekeepers to participate in the fight against the flow of illicit small arms and in the control of embargoes, despite the opposition from Russia, India and China.
All three countries abstained. The resolution, co-sponsored by 70 of the 193 members of the United Nations, was adopted by 12 of the 15 members of the Security Council.
The text asks for a study during the renewal of mandates “how peace operations could help the competent national authorities to combat the illicit transfer and diversion of weapons in violation of arms embargoes”.
It also encourages peace missions “to strengthen the capacities of the authorities of the host country, at their request, in terms of data collection and training to fight against the illicit transfer of arms and material”.
“The aim is to stop the diversion of weapons that fuel conflicts and, in turn, strengthen the international legal order, political dialogue and negotiation of the parties,” Mexico’s ambassador told the UN, Juan Ramon de la Fuente Ramirez.
For Russia, which holds a veto right in the Council but has not used it, “put all arms embargoes in the same bag.” […] does not lead to added value and undermines the work of the Security Council ”to resolve conflicts, said Russian Deputy Ambassador to the UN, Dmitry Polyanskiy.
China also criticized “a single approach” including all peace operations and arms embargoes, while India recalled being “one of the most important contributors of troops to peace operations”.
“UN peace operations should not be used as a vehicle to implement arms embargoes. This will not only result in a significant addition to their current mandate, but will also affect their operational effectiveness and could even possibly put peacekeepers at risk, ”said Madhu Sudan of the Indian diplomatic mission.
Ambassador of Niger, Abdou Abarry regretted that the resolution does not address “the problem at its root”, namely the manufacture, sale and delivery of these illicit weapons. “The Council must one day have the courage to confront this issue.” “It is high time that the economic interests of a few arms manufacturers were erased in the face of the urgent need to save human lives,” he said.
The UN currently has some 100,000 peacekeepers in some 20 peace operations around the world.