BANGLADESH

International day of UN peacekeepers today

The International Day of United Nations (UN) Peacekeepers is being observed today (on Sunday)  in the country like elsewhere in a befitting manner. 

Impartiality, discipline and promptness in the deployment have encouraged United Nations to hire the highest number of troops from Bangladesh for peacekeeping operations across the world over three decades, former peacekeepers and observers said.

Apart from professionalism, former military and serving police officials said that the highest moral integrity maintained by Bangladeshi peacekeepers during their duty in UN missions also contributed to more number of troops being recruited from the country.

Against this backdrop,  the country will celebrate the International Day of UN Peacekeepers-2022 marking their respect for those, who sacrificed their lives during different peacekeeping missions.

According to the army headquarters, 161 officials and rankers, including 139 members of the armed forces and 22 police, sacrificed their lives in peacekeeping missions as of May 23, 2022.

At least 252 personnel sustained critical injuries since the country started contributing to UN peacekeeping missions by sending a group of officers to the United Nations Iran-Iraq Military Observers Group in 1988.

According to army headquarters, 6,825 officials and rankers are currently serving in the UN missions in 14 countries while 1,83,378 others have so far completed their 54 missions in different capacities in 43 countries once or multiple times.

Bangladesh was the leading troops contributing country to UN peacekeeping missions in 2011, 2014 and 2015.

President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina issued separate messages, marking the occasion.

The International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers was established by the General Assembly in 2002, to pay tribute to all men and women serving in peacekeeping, and to honour 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, directly impacting millions of people, and saving countless lives. Today, UN Peacekeeping deploys more than 89,000 military, police and civilian personnel in 12 operations.

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