Peacekeeping ops face unprecedented complexities in today's conflicts: CISC

New Delhi: Modern warfare is increasingly multi-faceted and borderless and conflicts today involve a mix of state forces, non-state militias and terrorist groups, making peacekeeping operations complex at an unprecedented level, a top Indian military official said on Thursday.

In a keynote address, delivered at an event here, Chief of Integrated Defence Staff (CISC) Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit also said there was a need to examine how peacekeeping and the international humanitarian law must adapt to modern realities.

"We stand at a defining inflection point in global geopolitics. The structure of international peace and security is undergoing profound change. The post-World War II order, which was grounded in collective responsibility, shared norms, and humanitarian values, now, is under tremendous stress," he said.

The CISC underlined that about a "quarter of a world" lives in conflict-affected areas, and today there are "61 active conflicts worldwide", the highest number since 1946.

The 'USI UN Annual Forum' is being hosted by Delhi-based defence think-tank USI in collaboration with Centre for UN Peacekeeping (CUNPK) and International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on the theme 'Advancing Peacekeeping and the Humanitarian Imperative in a Contested World' on October 23 and 24.

"We should examine how peacekeeping and the international humanitarian law must adapt to modern realities, and how we are to uphold the humanitarian imperative amid this fragmentation," Air Marshal Dixit said.

He mentioned the theme of the forum was both relevant and timely, as it coincides with the 80th anniversary of the establishment of the United Nations that came into effect on October 24, 1945, soon after the World War II.

After the World War II, the United Nations and the Geneva Conventions were created to protect civilians, mitigate war's horror and maintain global stability.

These frameworks codify principles, such as protection of non-combatants, and prohibition of indiscriminate violence, Dixit said.

In the early Cold War era, peacekeeping missions were relatively limited in number, he said and cited examples of UNTSO (United Nations Truce Supervision Organisation), set up in 1948, for peacekeeping in the Middle East, and the mission in Korea in 1953.

"The foundational IHL tenets remains vital, but the complex nature of contemporary conflicts strains their implementation," the CISC said.

International humanitarian law (IHL) refer to a set of rules that seeks, for humanitarian reasons, to limit the effects of armed conflict.

"Modern warfare is increasingly multi-faceted and borderless. Conflicts today often involve a mix of state forces, non-state milltas, insurgents, terrorist groups, private military companies and prophecy actors," Dixit said.

These groups typically operate across porous borders and fluid terrains. For example in the Middle East, non-state actors fight alongside or against regular armies, he said.

And, key characteristics include "multi-polar and non-linear battlefields, wars are no longer state Vs state, instead a network of armed groups and militias may engage in the same theatre, as we have seen in the Libyan and Syrian civil wars", the CISC added.

In his address, he underlined the growing vulnerabilities of civilian population in modern conflicts.

"It is now common for armed forces or actors to target civilian infrastructure as a strategy, using civilians as shields or weaponising it," he said, and stressed that under international humanitarian law, this is forbidden.

Such protections are often violated as documented in Gaza, Sudan and elsewhere, the CISC said.

Modern wars tend to last longer and create "deep humanitarian crises", the resulting displacement, food insecurity and trauma multiply over time, he said and cited the large number of deaths and displacement of humans reported in the wake of conflicts in Sudan and Gaza.

Despite these challenges, multilateral institutions such as the "UN remain indispensable," the CISC asserted.

UN Peacekeeping has helped many nations transition after a civil war or dictatorship. Civilian death tolls are lower and peace agreements more stable in areas, where peacekeepers are deployed, he said.

"Yet the peace operations community now confronts unprecedented complexities. Several armed conflicts are underway worldwide, and peace operations face unprecedented complexities marked by non-state actors, proxy warfare, constrained resources and the increasing vulnerability of civilian population," the air marshal said.

Peacekeepers themselves are being targeted by new threats, IEDs, ambushes, drones, raising concern over how to ensure civilian protection while ensuring their own protection, he said.