The United Nations last week honoured Inspector Cornelius Gadri of the Ghana Police Service, who died in the service of peace on March 19, 2012, whilst serving in the Africa Union/United Nations Hybrid Operations in Darfur (UNAMID).
The late Inspector Gadri, and 110 other peacekeeping personnel who died during their United Nations (UN) activities around the world in 2012, were posthumously presented with the Dag Hammarskjöld medals.
They were killed last year in Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan and South Sudan.
Tributes were also paid to some 3000 others who had fallen in the line of duty since the first peacekeepers were deployed 65 years ago.
At the ceremony held at the UN Headquarters in New York, which also marked the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers wreaths were laid in memory of the fallen UN peacekeepers. .
Secretary-General of the UN, Ban Ki-Moon in his address, paid tribute to the fallen peacekeepers for “their sacrifice, courage and selfless service on behalf of the United Nations”.
He acknowledged that, the fallen heroes and other blue helmets had brought hope to millions of people in some of the most troubled parts of the world.
To this end, the Secretary-General mentioned efforts to improve the safety of UN personnel all over the world, considering the dangers in peacekeeping.
Recalling that global peace and security needed changes rapidly, Mr Ban Ki-Moon pointed out that, UN peacekeeping increasingly needed to deploy multi-dimensional operations to help countries transition from conflict to peace, with a significant focus on protecting civilians, including the most vulnerable among them; women and children.
“To meet emerging threats and rise to new challenges, United Nations peacekeeping is adjusting its policies to better fulfill its mandates to bring lasting peace to war-torn countries” the Secretary-General stated.
The current troop level of the UNAMID is seeking to end the violence in the troubled Sudanese region of Darfur. Already, the Security Council of the UN has appealed to partners in the conflict to put an end to violence, including attacks on civilians, peacekeepers and humanitarian personnel.
By Resolution 1881, which was adopted in 2009, the Council called for the immediate cessation of hostilities and for all parties to commit to a sustained and permanent ceasefire.
Currently, there are more than 111,000 personnel serving 15 peacekeeping operations and one political mission in the world – the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) – led by the Department of Peacekeeping Operations.
Source: ISD (Harry Reynolds, New York)
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