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Our Peacekeepers

More than two million men and women have served under the UN flag since 1948. UN Peacekeepers can be military, police and civilians. Tragically, more than 3,500 have lost their lives in the cause of peace.

UN peacekeepers come from all walks of life, with diverse cultural backgrounds and from an ever-growing number of Member States.When they serve under the United Nations they are united by a commitment to maintain or restore world peace and security. They share a common purpose to protect the most vulnerable and provide support to countries in transition from conflict to peace.

Peacekeepers are civilian, military and police personnel all working together. The roles and responsibilities of peacekeepers are evolving as peacekeeping mandates become more complex and multidimensional. Peacekeeping operations have developed from simply monitoring ceasefires to protecting civilians, disarming ex-combatants, protecting human rights, promoting the rule of law, supporting free and fair elections, minimizing the risk of land-mines and much more.

Fallen heroes 

Tragically over 3,500 peacekeepers have lost their lives in the cause of peace. Their sacrifice on behalf of the international community are one of the most concrete expressions of the UN Charter’s determination “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.”  You can find about the nationality and the missions they served in the fatalities data section.

Women in Peacekeeping

Women are deployed in all areas – police, military and civilian – and have made a positive impact on peacekeeping environments, including in supporting the role of women in building peace and protecting women's rights.

In all fields of peacekeeping, women peacekeepers have proven that they can perform the same roles, to the same standards and under the same difficult conditions, as their male counterparts. It is an operational imperative that we recruit and retain female peacekeepers.

In 1993, women made up 1% of deployed uniformed personnel. In 2020, out of approximately 95,000 peacekeepers, women constitute 4.8% of military contingents, 10.9% of formed police units and 34% of justice and corrections government-provided personnel in UN Peacekeeping missions. While the UN encourages and advocates for the deployment of women to uniformed functions, the responsibility for deployment of women in the police and military lies with Member States. UN Police Division launched 'the Global Effort' to recruit more female police officers into national police services and into UN police operations around the world. The 2028 target for women serving in military contingents is 15%, and 25% for military observers and staff officers. The 2028 target for women serving in formed police units is 20%, and 30% for individual police officers. 

Find out more in our gender statistics section to download a monthly breakdown of the number of male and female uniformed personnel working across our missions.

Women peacekeepers are responding to COVID-19


International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers

Each year on the 29 May we celebrate the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers. The day was established to honour the memory of the UN peacekeepers who have lost their lives in the cause of peace; and 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.

The UN General Assembly designated Peacekeepers Day in 2002 [A/RES/57/129]. In recent years, we have encouraged the celebration of the Day under a common theme:

Standards of conduct and training 

The UN expects that all peacekeeping personnel adhere to the highest standards of behaviour and conduct themselves in a professional and disciplined manner at all times.

Special training is required to ensure that UN personnel are equipped with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes required to perform these diverse duties and to be prepared for particularly challenging situations.  There are several types of required training from pre-deployment which covers basic UN principles, guidelines and policies to more targeted trainings related to specific issues such as sexual abuse and exploitation.  These required trainings set standards for UN peacekeeping and guide personnel as they carry out critical tasks to assist the countries within which they work.