A Chinese envoy on Monday called for further measures to ensure the safety and security of United Nations (UN) peacekeepers.

UN peacekeeping operations represent an important means for maintaining international peace and security and peacekeepers are an important asset to international peace, Zhang Jun, China's permanent representative to the UN, said. While peacekeeping cannot be risk-free, there is a need to minimize security risks, he said.

In recent years, the UN has attached great importance to the safety and security of peacekeepers. It is necessary to increase input and ensure that the relevant considerations be reflected in the implementation of action plans, the ambassador told the Security Council in an open debate.

"It is necessary to improve the equipment of peacekeeping missions in a targeted manner, improve the quality of peacekeeping personnel, and strengthen the situational awareness, emergency response, and emergency rescue capabilities of peacekeeping operations (PKOs), so as to increase PKO resilience to various security risks," he said.

In a presidential statement on the same day, the Security Council expressed grave concern about the security threats and targeted attacks against UN peacekeepers and condemned the killing of and all acts of violence against them, saying this may constitute war crimes.

Since the beginning of this year, 15 UN peacekeepers have lost their lives due to malicious acts, UN Undersecretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix said on Monday.

Out of the 4,089 fatalities among UN peacekeepers, 1,068 were attributed to malicious acts, UN peacekeeping data shows.

Zhang said the COVID-19 pandemic has presented a new challenge to safety and security and he called for the early completion of vaccination for all peacekeepers. 

Improvised explosive devices (IEDs) have again become a major cause of casualties among peacekeepers this year. China expects the UN secretariat to submit an independent strategic assessment report on PKOs' response to the threat of IEDs, the envoy said.

For more than 30 years, while actively participating in PKOs, China has attached great importance to the safety and security of peacekeepers, he continued.

He also spoke of China's role over the years. The county, he said, promoted the adoption of Security Council Resolution 2518, the first resolution on the safety and security of peacekeepers, as well as its follow-ups. It has provided financial support to the UN Secretariat for formulating action plans and, together with other member states, has established the Group of Friends on the Safety and Security of UN Peacekeepers in a bid to enhance communication and information sharing, promote policy coordination, and improve capacity building.

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China has also actively provided other troop- and police-contributing countries with security training, funded the UN secretariat's workshop on safety and security issues, and offered to donate 300,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines to peacekeepers, he said.

China is the second largest contributor to UN peacekeeping and the largest troop-contributing country among the permanent members of the UN Security Council. Over the past 30 years, China's armed forces have sent over 40,000 peacekeepers to 25 UN peacekeeping missions, according to a white paper released by the country's State Council Information Office last September.

(With input from Xinhua)