6 Bangladeshi peacekeepers to be honoured with UN Dag Hammarskjold medal
The United Nations will honour more than 103 peacekeepers including six Bangladeshis, who lost their lives serving under the UN flag last year, with the Dag Hammarskjold medal.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres will hand over the medal at the UN Headquarters, marking the 75th anniversary of UN Peacekeeping and the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers on 25 May.
The Bangladeshi peacekeepers are Md Sharif Hossain, Md Jahangir Alam, and Md Jasim who served with the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA); Kafil Majumder who served with the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS); Md Manjur Rahman who served with the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA); and Police Constable Md Moniruzzaman who served with the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA).
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Bangladesh is the largest contributor of uniformed personnel to UN Peacekeeping. It currently deploys more than 7,200 military and police personnel to the UN peacekeeping operations in Abyei, the Central African Republic, Cyprus, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lebanon, Mali, South Sudan, the Western Sahara.
In his message, the Secretary-General said, "United Nations peacekeepers are the beating heart of our commitment to a more peaceful world. For 75 years, they have supported people and communities rocked by conflict and upheaval across the globe. Today, on the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers, we honour their extraordinary contributions to international peace and security."
The International Day of UN Peacekeepers was established by the UN General Assembly in 2002, to pay tribute to all men and women serving in peacekeeping, and to honour the memory of those who have lost their lives in the cause of peace.
The Secretary-General will also present the 2022 Military Gender Advocate of the Year Award to Captain Cecilia Erzuah, a military officer from Ghana who served with the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA).
Created in 2016, the Award "recognises the dedication and effort of an individual peacekeeper in promoting the principles of UN Security Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security".
In 1948, the historic decision was made to deploy military observers to the Middle East to supervise the implementation of Israel-Arab Armistice Agreements, in what became the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization.
Since that time, more than two million peacekeepers from 125 countries have since served in 71 operations around the world. Today, 87,000 women and men are serving in 12 conflict zones across Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.
