UNITED NATIONS OFFICE AT GENEVA COMMEMORATES INTERNATIONAL DAY OF UNITED NATIONS PEACEKEEPERS

Sergei Ordzhonikidze, Under-Secretary-General and Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, today saluted the sacrifice and selflessness of United Nations peacekeepers, during the commemoration of the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers at the United Nations Office at Geneva.

The first part of the commemoration consisted of a flag-raising and wreath-laying ceremony in the Ariana Park of the Palais des Nations, during which the Director-General called for a minute of silence in honour of peacekeepers who had lost their lives in duty.

The second part of the ceremony consisted of a roundtable discussion on peacekeeping with the participation of the Director-General and Ambassadors and Permanent Representatives of Canada, Chile, France and Rwanda, as well as a representative from the Chinese Mission to the United Nations Office at Geneva. A short documentary depicting the tragic reality of the past months in Haiti was also shown.

Under the theme of “Haiti Standing”, the day’s events were also an opportunity to pay tribute to the 96 peacekeepers of the United Nations Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) who lost their lives in the tragic earthquake in Haiti last January and to highlight the United Nation’s ongoing contribution for the country’s recovery.

Mr. Ordzhonikidze said peacekeepers continued to serve the cause of peace, with energy and enthusiasm. This was of benefit to the United Nations and – most importantly – to the people they also served in the field. He also noted that United Nations peacekeeping was at a crossroads; the United Nations Secretariat had begun an inclusive process of reflection, together with Member States, on how to address the dilemmas of peacekeeping. A fresh consensus was required on priorities between the Security Council, troop and police contributing countries and the Secretariat.

Sharing a few thoughts on the challenges affecting peacekeeping and how to address them, Mr. Ordzhonikidze added that “peacekeeping could not be used as an alternative to a political solution. Unity of purpose at the political level, within a given country and within the international community was critical to success”.

During the roundtable discussion, participants noted the increasingly complex peace and security environment, which had made the profile of United Nations peacekeeping missions evolve since the Cold War. Contemporary peacekeeping missions had become multidimensional and included a wide-variety of activities, ranging form humanitarian assistance, capacity-building at the political level, investigating human rights violations, amongst others, together with more classical operations such as disarming and demobilizing.


Participants also shared thoughts on how to make peacekeeping missions more effective. They noted that peacekeeping was irreplaceable and that there was an increasing demand and expectation for peacekeeping which had to be addressed. Also, peacekeeping needed to be accompanied by peacemaking and peace building activities.

The International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers pays tribute to all men and women who have served and continue to serve in United Nations peacekeeping operations for their dedication, courage and high-level of professionalism and honours those who have lost their lives for the cause of peace.

A group of approximately 15 former Blue Helmets from around the world, including from Australia, France, Ireland and Kenya, participated in the commemoration. The group of peacekeepers was led by Laurent Attar-Bayrou, President of the non-governmental organization Association Internationale des Soldats de la Paix and the United Nations Information Service’s main partner in the organization of the commemoration ceremony. Earlier in the day, the former blue helmets also participated in a seminar on the activities of the United Nations and how those contributed to or complemented the work of the peacekeepers.



For use of the information media; not an official record


DG10/013E