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2019 International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers

  • #ProtectingPeace #PKDay
Every year on 29 May, the United Nations commemorates the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers. On this day, we pay tribute to all the men and women who have served as military, police or civilians in UN Peacekeeping operations. We commend their professionalism, dedication and courage and honour the memory of those who have lost their lives in the cause of peace.
Start date: 
Friday, May 24, 2019
End date: 
Wednesday, May 29, 2019
Event location: 
UNHQ New York

The General Assembly, in its resolution 57/129, designated 29 May as the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers. This is the date when in 1948 the first UN peacekeeping mission named the "United Nations Truce Supervision Organization", or UNTSO, began operations in the Middle East. On this day, we pay tribute to the professionalism, dedication and courage of all the men and women serving in UN peacekeeping operations, and honour the memory of those who have lost their lives in the cause of peace.

This year, United Nations Headquarters will commemorate the Day on Friday, 24 May 2019. Activities will begin with a ceremony at which the Secretary-General will lay a wreath to commemorate those who have fallen while serving for peace across United Nations Peacekeeping operations. The Dag Hammarskjöld Medal ceremony will take place immediately afterwards. Medals will be awarded to 119 military, police and civilian staff who have perished in the service of peace. The Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, Mr. Jean-Pierre Lacroix will hold a Press Conference during the daily noon briefing. In the afternoon, the Department of Peace Operations will hold the traditional medal parade for serving uniformed officers at UN Headquarters in New York.

Peacekeeping missions will observe the Day on 29 May as designated by the UN General Assembly.

2019 Theme: Protecting Civilians, Protecting Peace

This year’s campaign theme for the Day is “Protecting Civilians, Protecting Peace”, chosen to mark the 20th anniversary of the first time that the Security Council explicitly mandated a peacekeeping mission to protect civilians (UNAMSIL in Sierra Leone from 1999 until 2005).

Join our campaign by using the hashtags #PKDay #ProtectingPeace and by disseminating our publicly available campaign materials.

Find out more about the protection of civilians in peacekeeping operations.

Please contact us for media inquiries.