When your country is at war, chances are you might have other priorities than attending an event at the UN that promotes peace.
But that’s not the case for Ukrainian teenager Daria Yelisieienko, who travelled all the way from her war-torn country this week, to show her support for United Nations peacekeepers everywhere.
The United Nations paid tribute to the men and women serving under its flag in some of the most dangerous places in the world during a ceremony in New York on Thursday to mark the International Day of UN Peacekeepers.
With a focus for this year’s International Day of UN Peacekeepers on youth, peace and security, the UN chief told a commemorative ceremony on Thursday that “peace cannot be achieved without the active participation of young people”.
To honour the more than 3,900 women and men who have lost their lives under the UN flag since 1948, Secretary-General António Guterres laid a wreath at the Peacekeepers’ memorial on Friday, International Day of UN Peacekeepers.
But for the selfless bravery of the UN ‘blue helmet’ who dragged him to safety during a firefight against Congolese militiamen, it is unlikely that Corporal Ali Khamis Omary would be alive to tell the tale. The man who saved him, Malawian peacekeeper Chancy Chitete, was not so lucky.
Ever since the UN deployed the first of its 72 peacekeeping missions back in 1948, more than 3,800 peacekeepers have lost their lives, Secretary-General António Guterres said on Friday, at a wreath laying ceremony in honour of those “brave men and women” who serve.
Countries whose peacekeepers have sexually abused people under their protection, should allow their troops to be court-martialled where the crimes took place.
That’s the view of Hervé Ladsous, UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations.
He said there should not only be “zero tolerance” towards sexual abuse, but a firm objective of “zero occurrence” among peacekeepers.
A Rwandan army major has said he is “happy” to be part of a mission which is working hard to promote peace in war-torn South Sudan.
Major Apollo Rutaganda, is the Chief of Operations of the Rwandese Battalion of peacekeepers at the UN mission in the country, UNMISS.
The mission is tasked with a range of responsibilities including protecting civilians, monitoring human rights abuses and supporting the implementation of a cessation of hostilities agreement.
Peacekeepers working for the UN mission in Haiti have done what’s been described as a “beautiful job” making the Caribbean island nation “more secure” than it was when they arrived 12 years ago.
That’s the opinion of the Force Commander of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti, MINUSTAH, General Ajax Porto Pinheiro.
Fallen peacekeepers honoured at UN