Parliament backs President’s proposal to send Kazakh military personnel to UN missions
«Until now the military personnel of the Kazakh Armed Forces has been sent to the United Nations peacekeeping missions to fulfill international obligations on maintaining peace and security in accordance with the decrees of the Parliament of Kazakhstan. Since 2014, 45 Kazakh officers have participated in the UN missions in Western Sahara, Côte d'Ivoire, and Lebanon as military observers and staff officers. Since 2018, 520 Kazakhstani military servants have served in the UN Interim Forces in Lebanon. Six and nine Kazakh militaries are serving in the UN missions in Western Sahara and Lebanon, respectively,» Minister Zhaksylykov read out the President’s proposal.
«The UN leadership highly evaluates the level of training of our military personnel and expresses readiness to support an increase in the number of Kazakhstani peacekeepers in the UN missions.
Sending the militaries to the UN peacekeeping operations not only significantly contributes to the global security strengthening, but also helps promote the authority and the role of Kazakhstan at the international arena.
The latest events occurring in the region and the world testify to the emergence of new risks and challenges to regional and national security, some of which may require a military response. Therefore, the issue of further strengthening the armed forces’ combat skills and getting practical experience in countering modern threats gains significant importance. In this context, I think it is expedient to expand the engagement of Kazakhstan’s Armed Forces in the UN peacekeeping missions in the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Mali. Kazakhstan is ready to send both individual military servants as officers and military observers as well as specialized divisions which are most in-demand in the UN missions. They are infantry squads, medical troops, reconnaissance, engineer, and military police units. The advanced experience they gain will be applied in the improvement of combat training of our Armed Forces and in the elaboration of recommendations on their future development. For this reason, a specific unit of the UN mission and the timing of deployment will be determined by the UN Secretariat based on the results of the forthcoming work. An appropriate regulatory-legal framework will be prepared for each individual peacekeeping operation.
In accordance with subparagraph 5 of Article 53 of the Kazakhstan Constitution, first, I submit the proposal to send peacekeeping forces – around 430 military servants – to the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic, the UN Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo and to the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali and to the UN Interim Force in Lebanon,» the text of the President’s proposal reads.