UN Chronicle | Giving Peace a Chance: World Celebrates First International Day of UN Peacekeepers

Giving Peace a Chance
World Celebrates First International Day of UN Peacekeepers
By Darrell Dela Rosa for the Chronicle

Web Article

The first annual International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers is being celebrated on 29 May to pay tribute "to all the men and women who have served and continue to serve in UN peacekeeping operations for their high level of professionalism, dedication and courage, and to honour the memory of those who have lost their lives in the cause of peace". More than 1,800 peacekeepers have died since that date in 1948 when the first UN peacekeeping operation, the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) in Palestine, was established.

A UN Peacekeeper comforts a child in Bunia, Democratic Republic of the Congo. UN Photo

Since the commencement of UNTSO, there have been 56 UN peacekeeping operations, 43 of which were established since 1988. Even as the International Day is celebrated around the world, peacekeepers continue to fulfil their roles as military observers, civilian police, trainers, disarmament experts, civil administrators, economists, judges and prosecutors, and humanitarian workers, while others perform traditional peacekeeping functions of monitoring ceasefires and buffer zones. There are currently 14 peacekeeping missions spread over three continents.

In a message on the Day, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said that the mission of United Nations peacekeeping would continue. "Peacekeeping by itself cannot end war. But it can help prevent a recurrence of fighting. Above all, it gives time and space for conflict resolution. It gives peace a chance," he said.

United Nations peace-keeping soldiers from the Canadian Battalion, part of the UN Support Mission in Haiti (UNSMIH), try to console an upset Port-au-Prince woman. UN/DPI Photo by Eskinder Debebe

Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Jean-Marie Guéhenno, commemorating the Day with peacekeepers from the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC), cited two threats to the international community's search for peace. "First is the difficulty in building common ground (as was seen recently over Iraq). The second is indifference. Crises develop and people die, not because of big conflicts but because nobody cares." In paying tribute to all peacekeepers, Mr. Guéhenno added: "As we work to improve our support for UN peacekeepers, we must acknowledge their vital contribution: they can make a difference."

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