UNITED NATIONS, Jun 5 : Two Indian peacekeepers were honoured posthumously by the United Nations for their ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty as the world body commemorated the International Day of UN Peacekeepers.
Lance Havildar Harbhajan Singh, who served with the United Nations Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) and Naib Subedar Sujit Kumar Pradhan, who was deployed with the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).
They were honoured posthumously by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres with the prestigious Dag Hammarskjold Medal for their sacrifice in the line of duty.
India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Parvathaneni Harish, received the Dag Hammarskjold Medal on behalf of the families of fallen Indian Peacekeepers from Guterres at the solemn ceremony in the UN headquarters to commemorate International Day of UN Peacekeepers.
The world commemorates the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers annually on May 29, paying homage to the fallen Blue Helmets who made the ultimate sacrifice while serving in UN peacekeeping missions across the world.
The UN Headquarters in New York observed the Day on June 5, beginning with the Secretary-General laying a wreath in honour of fallen peacekeepers at the Peacekeepers Memorial Site on the North Lawn.
He then honoured the men and women who served in UN peacekeeping and lost their lives in the cause of peace.
Guterres then presided over the solemn ceremony at which the Dag Hammarskjold Medal was awarded posthumously to 68 military, police and civilian peacekeepers, who paid the ultimate price in the line of duty, including 59 who died last year.
India is the second largest contributor of uniformed personnel to UN Peacekeeping. It currently contributes more than 4,200 military and police personnel – including 155 women — to UN peace operations in Abyei, the Central African Republic, Cyprus, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lebanon, the Middle East, Somalia, South Sudan and Western Sahara.
Nearly 180 Indian peacekeepers have made the supreme sacrifice in the line of duty, the highest number by far from any troop-contributing country.
The UN General Assembly had established the International Day of UN Peacekeepers in 2002 and selected May 29 for the annual commemoration since it was the day in 1948 when the Security Council established the first UN peacekeeping operation, the United Nations Truce Supervision Organisation in the Middle East.
Currently, over 50,000 civilian, military and police peacekeepers serve under the UN flag in peacekeeping missions across some of the world’s most complex environments, where “conflicts are increasingly fragmented, protracted, and shaped by emerging threats, including the misuse of digital tools and the spread of harmful information”, the UN said.
A total of 118 countries currently contribute uniformed personnel to 11 peacekeeping missions.
The theme for this year’s Day of UN Peacekeepers is ‘Invest in Peace’.
In his address at the ceremony, Guterres said UN Peacekeeping has proven to be one of the international community’s most effective responses to conflict.
He said that peacekeepers continue to face peril in the cause of peace and added that he was “humbled” to posthumously bestow the Dag Hammarskjold Medal to 68 peacekeepers who have made the ultimate sacrifice, including 59 killed last year.
The fallen peacekeepers came from 33 countries: diverse in background, but united in the cause of peace.
“They represent the best of humanity – people prepared to risk everything to keep others safe. To their families and friends here today: we mourn with you. And we vow to honour your loved ones in the best way we know how: by carrying forward the mission to which they devoted their lives,” the UN Chief said. (PTI)
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