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UN to observe Peacekeepers Day on Thursday

Xinhua, May 19, 2016 Adjust font size:

The United Nations will observe the International Day of UN Peacekeepers here on Thursday to honour all fallen peacekeepers, a UN spokesman said here Wednesday.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will preside over a ceremony at which the Dag Hammarskjold Medal will be awarded posthumously to 128 military, police and civilian personnel who lost their lives while serving in peacekeeping operations in 2015, Stephane Dujarric said at a daily news briefing here.

"The secretary-general will also lead the first-ever ceremony for the Captain Mbaye Diagne Medal for Exceptional Courage," Dujarric said. "That medal is named after the peacekeeper who saved hundreds of lives in Rwanda in 1994 before suffering a fatal injury while on duty."

The International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers, which falls on May 29, is a day to pay tribute to all the men and women who have served and continue to serve in United Nations peacekeeping operations for their high level of professionalism, dedication, and courage and to honor the memory of those who have lost their lives in the cause of peace.

It was designated by the UN General Assembly on Dec. 11, 2002, after an official request of the Ukrainian Peacekeepers Association and the government of Ukraine to the UN General Assembly and first celebrated in 2003.

The date, May 29, marks the anniversary of the creation of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) in 1948 to monitor the ceasefire after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, which was the first ever UN peacekeeping mission. Endit