UNITED NATIONS — On the 75th anniversary of U.N. peacekeeping, the United Nations chief said Thursday that peacekeepers are increasingly working in places where there is no peace and praised the more than 4,200 who have given their lives to the cause of peace since the U.N. authorized its first military deployment in 1948.
It was a day to look back at the successes of peacekeeping from Liberia to Cambodia and its major failures in former Yugoslavia and in Rwanda, but also to the challenges ahead, including dealing with more violent environments, fake news campaigns, and a divided world that is preventing peacekeeping’s ultimate goal: successfully restoring stable governments.
And it was a day to honor the more than 2 million peacekeepers from 125 countries who have served in 71 operations since the U.N. Security Council sent those first military observers to supervise implementation of Israeli-Arab armistice agreements following their war.
At a ceremony honoring the fallen peacekeepers, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres asked the hundreds of uniformed military officers and diplomats to stand for a moment of silence in their memory and then presented medals for the 103 peacekeepers killed in 2022 to ambassadors from their 39 home countries. And at the start of a U.N. Security Council meeting on peace in Africa shortly after, all those in the chamber stood in tribute to peacekeepers who paid the ultimate price.
The secretary-general told the ceremony, after laying a wreath at the Peacekeepers Memorial on the lawn at U.N. headquarters, that what began 75 years ago “as a bold experiment” in the Mideast “is now a flagship enterprise of our organization.” For civilians caught in conflict, he said, peacekeepers are “a beacon of hope and protection.”
But peacekeepers trying to help countries move away from conflict are now “on the front lines in some of the world’s most dangerous places,” he said.
Guterres stressed the need for “a new generation” of regional operations to end conflicts and combat terrorism that are mandated and financed by the U.N.’s 193 member nations.
That has been a major goal of the African Union for years, and the continent’s nations are urging quick action to make it happen.
At the Security Council meeting, there was widespread support for Guterres’ view but differences on how the U.N. should proceed.
U.N. political chief Rosemary DiCarlo told the council that putting African Union peace operations “on solid footing is increasingly pressing” and the case for adequate financing is “beyond solid.” The U.N. therefore hopes the council will provide financing from U.N. member states for African Union-led peace operations, she said.
Adeoye Bankole — the African Union commissioner for political affairs, peace and security — welcomed “the very constructive and positive thrust” of the secretary-general’s comments.
“We cannot continue to use traditional peacekeeping methods in the face of the complex nature and scope of conflicts that traverse our beloved continent, particularly violent extremism, ideology of hate, terrorism, rebellion and insurgency,” he said.
