AMMAN — UN Headquarters will observe the International
Day of United Nations
Peacekeepers on May 26, 2022, according to a UN press
release. Secretary-General António Guterres will lay a wreath to honor the
nearly 4,200 UN peacekeepers who have lost their lives since 1948 and will
preside over a ceremony at which the Dag Hammarskjöld Medal will be awarded
posthumously to 117 military, police, and civilian peacekeepers who lost their
life serving under the
UN flag last year.
اضافة اعلان
Among the
peacekeepers to be honored posthumously are two from Jordan: SSgt Awad Ra’ed Awad Al Shloul and Col. Tareq
Sabbah Suleiman Al-Naimat; both served with the
United Nations Integrated Multidimensional Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA).
Jordan is the 34th
largest contributor of uniformed personnel to UN Peacekeeping. It currently
deploys 639 military and police personnel to the UN peace operations in Abyei,
the Central African Republic, Cyprus, the Democratic Republic of the Congo,
Mali, Sudan, and South Sudan.
During a special
ceremony, the secretary-general will award the “Captain Mbaye Diagne Medal for
Exceptional Courage” posthumously to Captain Abdelrazakh Hamit Bahar of
Chad,
who served with MINUSMA. The medal is named for a Senegalese peacekeeper who
was killed in Rwanda in 1994 after saving countless civilian lives. This is the
second time the medal has been awarded since the inaugural medal was presented
to Captain Diagne’s family in 2016.
The
secretary-general will also award the 2021 Military Gender Advocate of the Year
Award to Major Winnet Zharare, a Zimbabwean military observer who served with
the UN Mission in
South Sudan. Created in 2016, the award “recognizes the
dedication and effort of an individual peacekeeper in promoting the principles
of UN Security Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security”.
Jordan is the 34th largest contributor of uniformed personnel to UN Peacekeeping. It currently deploys 639 military and police personnel to the UN peace operations in Abyei, the Central African Republic, Cyprus, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, Sudan, and South Sudan.
Guterres said in a
message: “Today, we honor the more than 1 million women and men who have served
as UN peacekeepers since 1948. We pay tribute to the nearly 4,200 heroes and
heroines who sacrificed their lives in the cause of peace. And we are reminded
of an age-old truth: peace can never be taken for granted. Peace is the prize.
We are deeply grateful to the 87,000 civilian, police and military personnel
now serving under the UN flag who are helping to realize the prize of peace
worldwide.”
The theme for this
year’s observance of the occasion is “People. Peace. Progress. The Power of
Partnerships”. According to Guterres, “around the globe, UN peacekeepers work
with member states, civil society, humanitarians, the media, the communities
they serve and many others to foster peace, protect civilians, promote human
rights and the rule of law, and improve the lives of millions of people”.
Under-Secretary-General
for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix said: “Every day,
UN peacekeepers work
to protect vulnerable people in the world’s most fragile political and security
situations. The dangers they face are greater than ever, with increasing global
tensions, ever-more complex threats from terrorist attacks to organized crime
and the use of improvised explosive devices as well as a surge in mis- and
disinformation targeting our missions and the communities we serve. Despite
these challenges, peacekeepers persevere alongside our many partners in the
collective pursuit of peace. Today, we thank them for their tremendous
contribution and remember with great sorrow our colleagues who have made the
ultimate sacrifice while serving the cause of peace.”
The International
Day of UN Peacekeepers was established by the UN General Assembly in 2002 to
pay tribute to all men and women serving in peacekeeping, and to honor the memory
of those who have lost their lives in the cause of peace. The General Assembly
designated May 29 as the International Day of UN Peacekeepers in commemoration
of the day in 1948 when the UN’s first peacekeeping mission, the UN Truce
Supervision Organization (UNTSO) began operations in Palestine. Since then,
more than 1 million women and men have served in 72 UN peacekeeping operations.
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