Permanent Mission of India
New York

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High-level Open Debate on “Poverty, Underdevelopment and Conflict:

Implications for the Maintenance of International Peace and Security”

Statement by Ambassador Parvathaneni Harish, Permanent Representative

19 June 2025

Madam President,

We congratulate Guyana on assuming the Presidency of the Council and for organizing this timely and important Debate. As we mark the 80th anniversary of the United Nations, it is fitting that we reflect on how development and prosperity have eluded a majority of humanity which still faces poverty, lack of access to resources and opportunities, and lack of attention to their plight in an increasingly distracted world. This has direct, and indirect, impact on the Council’s primary responsibility for maintenance of international peace and security.

2. Let me at the outset highlight India’s journey in alleviating poverty that illustrates the transformative power of inclusive, people-centric development. Around 250 million people have been pulled out of multidimensional poverty in the last decade, bringing poverty down by 60 percent, signifying a major improvement in living standards for a large segment of the population. This has been achieved through targeted investments in health, education and skilling, housing, financial inclusion, and leveraging new and emerging technologies to leapfrog development, especially digital public infrastructure. Our efforts were focused especially on marginalized communities, women, youth, and children that have not only strengthened development outcomes, but also social cohesion and resilience.

3. As we discuss means to achieve better coordination between conflict prevention, peacebuilding and peacekeeping mechanisms of the UN to promote sustainable peace and development, recent history provides a useful context. In the period 1991-2010, the United Nations was able to leverage a unique and fortuitous geopolitical context and succeeded in crafting successful Peacebuilding Missions in various conflict areas such as the Central African Republic, Colombia, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Tajikistan. Peacekeeping seamlessly flowed into peacebuilding, and national development.

4. Since then, the geopolitical landscape has changed considerably constricting the replication of these strategies, which have not been deployed in the past decade in such Peacebuilding Missions. The UN Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia is one exception that stands out. The lack of active Peacebuilding and Preventive Diplomacy Missions restrict the tools available to the Security Council to deliver on its core mandate of maintenance of international peace and security.

5. Lack of development and persistent poverty are risk factors that enhance vulnerability for eruption of conflict. Regional organizations have enlarged their footprint and gaining greater prominence in the context of conflict prevention and peacebuilding. Moving forward, multilateral mechanisms may need to interact more with multiple stakeholders, including non-governmental organizations and business and industry, while driving the agenda of peace and security.

6. It merits emphasis in this backdrop that UN Peace Operations today are often burdened with objectives that go beyond the traditional mandate of peacekeeping. The new multidimensional “Christmas tree” mandates impinge on the effectiveness of these Missions and are not commensurate with allocated resources. The need of the hour is a “plain vanilla” approach to peacekeeping.

7. India would like to make the following concrete recommendations towards strengthening conflict prevention and peacebuilding efforts:

• i) First, in situations of conflicts which lie in the political and socio-economic domains, peace operations can create conducive conditions for political and socio-economic processes to take hold but not replace them.

• ii) To sustain peace and prevent relapse of conflicts, countries should be provided with adequate resources and time towards building of robust institutions and governance structures. The international community needs to go beyond short term solutions, and instead, address long term socio-economic development of the countries recovering from conflict. In this process, peacebuilding can benefit from human-centric technological advances, sush as digital public infrastructure (DPI), to foster inclusive and resilient economies, build trust between citizens and the government, and leapfrog the development process. India stands ready to offer its expertise in implementing DPI to address development needs.

• iii) Second, India reaffirms the primacy of national Governments and authorities in identifying and driving priorities, strategies, and activities for peacebuilding and conflict prevention. National ownership needs to be a non-negotiable aspect of all activities under peacebuilding. This would help ensure greater trust in the system.

iv) Third, we encourage further coordination among UN agencies, led by the Resident Coordinator system and stronger partnerships with regional organizations such as the AU, CARICOM, etc., including for mobilizing additional resources from IFIs and regional development banks, to facilitate addressing the developmental needs of national Governments.

• v) Fourth, the Security Council must deepen its engagement with ECOSOC, the Peacebuilding Commission, and the broader development system while taking care to prevent securitizing development domains. Early warning and conflict analysis cannot function in silos. We must draw from the insights of national governments, Resident Coordinators, local peacebuilders, and regional organizations to design responses grounded in real needs, national priorities and ground realities.

• vi) Fifth, one must avoid generic mainstreaming and a one-size-fits-all prescriptive approach and instead recognize the complexities associated with different national contexts.

• vii) Finally, development is strongly linked to peacebuilding. The need for financing development gains salience in this backdrop. We hope that the outcomes from the forthcoming Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development would comprehensively address the deepening financing gap for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, especially for the developing countries. India believes that the path to achieving sustainable development must be anchored in strengthened multilateralism, respect for national ownership and commitment to equity.

Madam President,

8. In conclusion, let me reiterate India’s unwavering commitment to multilateralism and more specifically, towards the maintenance of international peace and security. India has consistently played a constructive and significant role in peacebuilding through its extensive development partnerships with countries in the Global South. The cumulative value of India’s developmental projects now exceed USD 40 billion, encompassing soft loans, grants, and capacity building programs. We bring our unique experience in nation-building within a large, complex, and diverse context, and are willing to share our resources and experiences to help build multifaceted capacities of our partners. We stand committed to further strengthening our cooperation with our friends and partners, especially in the Global South, towards achieving their respective national development priorities, and in conflict prevention and peacebuilding. 

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