Category UN family of Nations

The UN works in India in accordance with the United Nations Sustainable Development Framework (UNSDF). It is a framework that takes into consideration both national priorities and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The UN strives to improve the lives of the most marginalized poor, and vulnerable communities of the country, especially women and girls. As the government of India suggests, ‘Development for All’ is the focus of the UN. The work of the United Nations in India pertains to the following:

• poverty and urbanization
• health, water, and sanitation
• nutrition and food security
• climate change, clean energy, and disaster resilience
• education
• skilling, entrepreneurship, and job creation, and
• gender equality and youth development

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 We know that the Secretary-General heads the UN. The Resident Coordinator heads the activities of the UN in India. The Resident Coordinator is the representative of the UN Secretary-General to the Government and is responsible for leading the UN Country Team.

The Resident Coordinator is responsible for ensuring the coordination of the activities of the UN aimed at development. He/she is also responsible for advocating human rights and other values of the United Nations.

Renata Lok-Dessallien serves as the Resident Coordinator of the UN in India. She has been serving the UN for the past 30 years. Renata’s efforts have significantly aided in poverty reduction. She was previously associated with various other countries including Bhutan, Bangladesh, China, Myanmar, Laos and Mali.

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India has shown an active participation in the UN peacekeeping missions. Our country has been a part of 43 peacekeeping missions and has supplied more than 1, 80,000 troops. According to the 2014 reports, India is the third largest contributor of troops to the UN.

India has provided and continues to provide eminent Force Commanders for UN Missions. India has already provided two Military Advisors, two Police Advisors, one Deputy Military Advisor, 14 Force Commanders and numerous Police Commissioners.

The Armed Forces of India are currently part of the peacekeeping missions in Lebanon, Congo, Liberia, South Sudan, Ivory Coast, Golan Heights, and Haiti. As of February 2017,163 Indians have been killed while serving in the UN peacekeeping operations.

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India is a part of the G4. G4 is a group of four nations who constantly back each other to get permanent membership in the UN Security Council. Brazil, Japan and Germany are the other three G4 nations. But why is India so keen on getting permanent membership in the Security Council? Let’s see.

India has the second largest population in the world. It is also the world’s largest liberal democracy. India comes third in terms of purchasing power and is the seventh largest economy in the world.

India comes forefront in supplying troops for the peacekeeping missions of the UN. Also, the Security Council does not have any permanent member from South Asia at present.

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When India gained independence in 1947, it regarded the already granted UN membership as an assurance of peace and stability. In return, our country has always shown strong interest in the ideals of the UN, and had actively participated in the UN’s specialized programmes and agencies.

India has been a member of the UN Security Council. India has served seven terms in the Security Council, the most recent one being from 2011-12. India was enthusiastic about working against colonialism and the practice of apartheid. In fact, India was among the most outspoken critics of apartheid and racial discrimination in South Africa.

India has significantly contributed to the UN’s peacekeeping mission. Indian troops were sent for the United Nations peacekeeping mission. Indian troops were sent for the United Nations peacekeeping efforts in Korea, Egypt and Congo. In recent years, Indian troops were involved in the missions in Somalia, Angola, Haiti, Liberia, Lebanon and Rwanda.

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In principle, only sovereign states can become UN members. But, India gained UN membership before its independence. India is one among the original members of the United Nations and signed the Declaration of the United Nations in 1944 at Washington DC.

India was not the only member to gain membership before independence. Belarus, the Philippines, and Ukraine too got membership similarly.

Though India, Canada, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia were all British colonies, they were given independent seats in the United Nations General Assembly. It was Sir Arcot Ramaswamy Mudaliar, who signed the UN Charter on behalf of India during the San Francisco Conference on 26 June, 1945.

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Greta Thunberg was a name that filled the newspaper columns last year. Along with a lot of other things, the young climate activist from Sweden is famous for her UN speech.

Greta first became famous when she was 15. Instead of attending school, she protested outside the Swedish parliament holding a placard that said ‘school strike for climate change’ for taking stronger actions against climate change.

Other students soon joined her movement and organized a school strike named ‘Fridays for Future’. This event went international after she participated in the 2018 UN Climate Change Conference.

Greta suddenly rose to world fame when she was featured by Time magazine. Time named her ‘next generation leader’. In 2019, she addressed the UN Climate Action Summit. Greta Thunberg was also nominated for the Noble peace Prize last year.

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‘A race we can win. A race we must win.’ This was the theme for the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit. The summit aimed at improving climate action resolved to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases to prevent the global temperature from rising more than 1.5 degree Celsius.

A global climate strike was held to pressurize the global leaders into action. Also known as the ‘Global Week for Future’, it was a series of international strikes and protests that demanded action for climate change. The summit took place in September.

However, some countries did not agree to the new proposal. China did not increase its Paris Agreement commitments. India did not agree to reduce its use of coal. US did not even speak in the conference.

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The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (UNCHE), also known as the Stockholm Conference of 1972 is one of the first major international conferences on environment.

After serious discussions about factors that affect the environment like population growth, and advancing technology, the UN came up with the Declaration on the Human Environment, and the Action Plan for Human Environment.

The action plan contained 109 specific recommendations aimed at achieving its goals. The conference presented environment as a human right. Every human has the right to clean and healthy environment. It talked about the responsibility of humans to manage wildlife and the ecosystem.

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The United Nations held an international convention in 2002 at Johannesburg, South Africa. The World Summit on Sustainable Development was however widely criticized by many environmental groups.

They said that the summit did not produce any productive international agreements; rather it tried to create new timetables for fulfilling Agenda 21 from the Rio Conference, and that took 10 years after its introduction.         

However, the World Summit did make an agreement to restore the world’s depleted fisheries and implemented an action plan. The Johannesburg Declaration was the major outcome of the summit. The declaration was based on the declarations of the Stockholm Conference of 1972 and Earth Summit of 1992.

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