– Yogesh Kumar Goyal
United Nations Peacekeepers Day is celebrated every year on 29 May all over the world. India has an important role in this mission. Six Canberra bomber aircraft of the IAF were deployed in the USOC Congo mission from 1960 to 1964. In these, 467 officers, 401 JCOs and 11354 jawans participated. 39 soldiers lost their lives in this mission. India monitored the ceasefire in Cambodia from 1992 to 1993. He also helped in the elections here. India had deployed 1373 soldiers in this UN mission.
In 2002, the United Nations General Assembly gave powers to peacekeeping missions for the first time for the protection of civilians. Also designated 29 May as ‘Peace Keeper’s Day’. Since then every year this day is celebrated as United Nations Peacekeepers Day. Participation in UN peacekeeping operations is optional. Canada and Portugal are the only two countries in the world to have participated in each peacekeeping mission. The UN peacekeeping mission is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year. In its peacekeeping missions so far, more than 4000 peacekeepers from all over the world have sacrificed their lives. Of these, the number of peacekeepers of India is about 170. This number is the highest in comparison to any other country. The United Nations was established on 24 October 1945 with the signing of the United Nations Charter by 50 countries.
It was established by the victorious countries of the Second World War. Its purpose was that by interfering in matters of international conflict by the United Nations, situations like World War should not emerge again in the future. These countries included powerful countries like America, UK, France, Russia etc. These founders hoped that they would be able to stop the war forever through this, but due to the division of the world into opposing parts during the Cold War from 1945 to 1991, it became very difficult to maintain a peacekeeping union.
The first UN peacekeeping mission was established by the United Nations on 29 May 1948. At that time, UN peacekeeping troops were deployed to remove the unrest between Israel and Arab countries. 71 peacekeeping missions were established by the United Nations in Africa, America, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. Currently, more than one lakh men and women are involved in UN peacekeeping operations in the world as peacekeepers. Ethiopia and Bangladesh account for the largest number of peacekeepers in UN peacekeeping missions. After these two countries, India is among the countries that contribute the most in this. At present, more than 7,000 Indian military and police personnel are deployed in Afghanistan, Congo, Haiti, Lebanon, Liberia, Middle East, Cyprus, South Sudan, West Asia and Western Sahara.
India’s role in UN peacekeeping missions is important. India had first deployed 17 officers, nine Junior Commissioned Officers (JCOs) and 300 soldiers in this mission during the Korean War which lasted from November 1950 to July 1954. India was also the country that sent an armed contingent to the United Nations Emergency Force between 1956 and 1967. During this period, 393 officers, 470 JCOs and 12383 jawans joined the UN mission from India.
In the year 2017, no Indian peacekeeper had to sacrifice his life in any UN mission. International United Nations Peacekeepers Day is celebrated in honor of the memory of UN peacekeepers who have sacrificed their lives for global peace. On this day tribute is paid to such peace keepers. The Dag Hammarskjold Medal is awarded posthumously. The honor was established in the year 2000 in memory of Dag Hammarskjöld, the second Secretary-General of the United Nations. Hammarskjöld died in a plane crash in 1961.
(The author is a freelance commentator.)
Read the Latest India News Today on The Eastern Herald.
