* "UN peacekeeping operations are now increasingly complex and multi-dimensional, going beyond monitoring a ceasefire to actually bringing failed States back to life, often after decades of conflict. The blue helmets and their civilian colleagues work together to organize elections, enact police and judicial reform, promote and protect human rights, conduct mine-clearance, advance gender equali-ty, achieve the voluntary disarmament of former combatants, and support the return of refugees and displaced people to their homes." -- Kofi Annan

On this International Day of UN Peacekeepers, let us pay tribute to the men and women from countries across the world who serve selflessly, tirelessly and fearlessly in UN peacekeeping operations. Let us remember the heroes who have laid down their lives in lands far from their own in the service of peace. And let us reaffirm our commitment to building a world free from the scourge of war.
-- Kofi Annan

"Today, we have more than 110,000 men and women deployed in conflict zones around the world. They come from nearly 120 countries -- an all-time high, reflecting confidence in United Nations peacekeeping. They come from nations large and small, rich and poor -- some of them countries recently afflicted by war themselves. They bring different cultures and experiences to the job, but they are united in their determination to foster peace. Some are in uniform, but many are civilians and their activities go far beyond monitoring. They train police, disarm ex-combatants, support elections and help build State institutions. They build bridges, repair schools, assist flood victims and protect women from sexual violence. They uphold human rights and promote gender equality. Thanks to their efforts, life-saving humanitarian assistance can be delivered and economic development can begin. " -- Ban Ki-moon

 

We have voted time and again in the Security Council, and rightfully so, to support critical missions in Lebanon, Haiti, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kosovo, and many others. The UN ‘blue helmets’ are literally on the front lines in conflicts that are the worst of the worst: protecting civilians, monitoring cease-fires, clearing mine fields, and disarming combatants. Through UN peacekeeping, the U.S. contributes to international peace and stability where we have critical foreign policy interests, while sharing the human, political and financial costs with other nations. We should not shortchange these operations.”
-- US Senator Joe Biden

One means of paying attention to smaller countries that have sometimes been overlooked is by revitalizing US leadership in the United Nations. The UN is committed to the goal of ensuring that all nations share in economic, social, & scientific progress. It delivers humanitarian assistance to the victims of wars and natural disasters. It provides a mechanism through which the US can help in dozens of conflicts around the world in which our vital interests aren’t directly involved but where we feel a more imperative to respond. Working with the UN’s diplomacy and development arms, we can prevent minor differences from escalating into wars. When conflicts do break out, UN peacekeepers should play a role in defusing and settling them. Without giving up our sovereignty, we can help the UN with better training and better command and control in order to develop more effective peacekeeping forces. -– Bill Bradley

The United Nations exists not merely to preserve the peace but also to make change - even radical change - possible without violent upheaval. The United Nations has no vested interest in the status quo. It seeks a more secure world, a better world, a world of progress for all peoples. In the dynamic world society which is the objective of the United Nations, all peoples must have equality and equal rights. -- Ralph J. Bunche

* "Peace is not just a colored ribbon. It's more than a wristband or a t-shirt. It's not just a donation or a 5 K race. It's not just a folk song, or a white dove. And peace is certainly more than a celebrity endorsement. Peace is a fulltime job. It's protecting civilians, overseeing elections, and disarming ex-combatants. The UN has over 100,000 Peacekeepers on the ground, in places others can't or won't go, doing things others can't or won't do. Peace, like war, must be waged." -- George Clooney

* "For all the civilians saved thanks to the presence of peacekeepers, there have been those who were lost – the United Nations personnel who sacrificed their lives for a noble cause. Even as we mourn our fallen colleagues, we are all uplifted by their unflinching commitment and are inspired to strive even harder for the collective cause so eloquently envisaged in the United Nations Charter: a world free from the scourge of war." -- Jan Eliasson (Former President of the UN General Assembly)

"A world without the United Nations or with a paralyzed United Nations would be far more costly to all of us and far more dangerous to peace and stability."
-- Richard Holbrooke

“The heroes of the world community are not those who withdraw when difficulties ensue, not those who can envision neither the prospect of success nor the consequence of failure -- but those who stand the heat of battle, the fight for world peace through the United Nations.” -- Hubert Humphrey

“The primary, the fundamental, the essential purpose of the United Nations is to keep peace. Everything it does which helps prevent World War III is good. Everything which does not further that goal, either directly or indirectly, is at best superfluous.”
-- Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.

Peacekeeping funds are an important and necessary part of what America does for humanity and the rest of the world.”
-- US Congressman Michael McCaul

This is the one international institution we have in which governments get together to work collectively for a common purpose. International crises, by definition, require international solutions. Peacekeeping is a response to conflict, is a response to situations in which often it is not the business of any one particular country to get into. It seems to me, therefore, that the world will for the foreseeable future need peacekeeping. -- Shashi Tharoor

“The United Nations is designed to make possible lasting freedom and independence for all its members”
-- Harry S Truman

*"Through your support of UN peacekeeping, you can help to make this tantalizing word—“peace”—a reality for all the world’s citizens. Together, we can spread the message that UN peacekeeping is essential. Without it, the world would be a much less stable, and more violent, place." ~ Timothy Wirth

 

UN PEACKEEPING
HERO PIX

Kofi Annan | Jan Eliasson

UN Peacekeepers Day - May 29