UN Peacekeeping aids and guides different countries along the strenuous road between conflict and peace. The United Nations annually celebrates the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers. It is a day held to pay tribute to the men and women of the world who have served as police, military or civilians within these operations.
The first ever United Nations Peacekeeping mission was in 1948, when the Security Council gave official command on May 29, 1948 for a team of observers to be deployed to the Middle East during the Arab–Israeli War. They were tasked with monitoring the Armistice Agreement between Israel and its Arab neighbours – an operation which would later be labelled the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization.
From that day, the UN have deployed over 70 peacekeeping operations. There has been participation from hundreds of thousands of military personnel, tens of thousands of UN police and non-combatants from over 120 countries. There have been more than 3,000 UN peacekeepers who have lost their lives whilst serving under the United Nations’ flag.
To find out more about United Nations Peacekeeping, click here.