Each year on 29 May, UNA-UK marks the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers. It is a chance for us to celebrate and acknowledge the vital difference that peacekeepers continue to make to people around the world. It is also an opportunity to remember those men and women who have lost their lives in the line of duty.
The theme for this year's observance is: a force for peace, a force for change, a force for the future.
Over the past six decades, UN peacekeeping has evolved to keep pace with increasingly complex situations where there is often no peace to keep. Today, some 111,000 military, police and civilian peacekeepers fulfil a host of functions, from robust protection in the DRC to supporting literacy programmes in Afghanistan.
To ensure it is equipped to address new challenges and take on new tasks, the UN is seeking to rapidly modernise. "We’re operating in the 21st century and we cannot continue just using tools of 50 or 100 years ago", said Hervé Ladsous, UN peacekeeping chief. This means realising the potential of technologies such as surveillance drones and robots, as well as making sure peacekeepers are trained and representative, notably by boosting the number of women.
This drive comes at a time when the UK is reassessing its own involvement in UN peacekeeping, following the withdrawal from Afghanistan. UNA-UK believes that the UK has much to offer the UN's modernisation project, from expertise and advisors, to equipment and training. Our new peacekeeping programme will make the case for greater engagement, and explore what shape this might take.
Hundreds of you have already supported our call for increased UK involvement in peacekeeping. But we need more signatures. Public support will play a crucial role in the decisions that lie ahead.
As your action on Peacekeepers Day, please click here to add your voice to this campaign.
