Wrap-up of International Day of UN Peacekeepers 2022 [1]
The International Day of UN Peacekeepers (29 May) was an opportunity to honour the UN peacekeeping personnel serving peace around the globe. As part of this recognition, the Secretary-General Antonio Guterres paid tribute to their service and sacrifice at the Dag Hammarskjöld Medal [3] Awards Ceremony which honored the 117 peacekeepers who lost their lives in 2021 serving under the UN flag, including two former MINURSO staff members. Additionally, the Secretary-General awarded the Captain Mbaye Diagne Medal for Exceptional Courage, [4] for only the second time since its creation in 2014. The late Captain Abdelrazakh Hamit Bahar of Chad who had served in MINUSMA [5]was killed in Mali by heavily armed assailants while protecting the local population. SRSG Alexander Ivanko hailed [6]the work of MINURSO personnel who everyday work for peace in one of the planet’s most challenging environments. During a celebration on 27 May, he laid a wreath at the monument of the MINURSO fallen peacekeepers.
MINURSO’s Mine Action component and UN Volunteers Programme were honored to be recognized in the “Peacekeeper of the Day” people-driven campaign on UN social media platforms [7]. Likewise, two media reports posted by the UN News Center - an interview [8] with a Chinese Military Observer serving in a team site, and a second one [9] with a Mexican Military Observer working at the Mission’s HQ, highlighted the critical job performed by the UNMOs in general, and women peacekeepers in particular.