UN peacekeepers and global peace

Thursday, May 29, was observed as International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers. With this year’s theme, ‘Fit for the future, building better together’, it is a day to pay tribute to all the men and women who have served and continue to serve in United Nations peacekeeping operations, where they have displayed high levels of […]

Thursday, May 29, was observed as International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers. With this year’s theme, ‘Fit for the future, building better together’, it is a day to pay tribute to all the men and women who have served and continue to serve in United Nations peacekeeping operations, where they have displayed high levels of professionalism, dedication and courage. It is also a day to honour the memory of those who have paid the supreme sacrifice in the cause of global peace.

The UN General Assembly, in its Resolution 57/129, designated May 29, the date when in 1948 the first UN peacekeeping mission – United Nations Truce Supervision Organisation (UNTSO), began operations in Palestine, to monitor the Armistice Agreement between Israel and its Arab neighbours.

The mandate has remained the same – to protect civilians, actively prevent conflict, reduce violence, strengthen security and empower national authorities to assume these responsibilities.

Since 1948, over two million men and women from over 120 nations have served in UN peacekeeping operations, with more than 4,400 losing their lives in the process, including 57 in 2024 alone. Currently, about 60,000 UN peacekeepers, including military, police and civilian personnel, are deployed in various missions.

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The blue beret and helmet headgears, which are distinctive and recognisable in all the world’s conflict zones where they are deployed, have Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh among the largest individual contributors with about 8,000 personnel each.

There are currently 11 peacekeeping operations deployed across Africa, Middle East, Europe and Asia with four currently active in Africa, including the Central African Republic (MINUSCA), South Sudan (UNMISS), the disputed Abyei region (UNISFA), and Western Sahara (MINURSO). Additionally, there are several Africa-led peacekeeping operations supported by the UN, such as the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS).

Africa accounts for over 80 per cent of global peacekeepers’ personnel deployment, including half of all post-Cold War missions. Nigeria has participated in 17 of the 71 UN operations since its debut in Congo (1960). Nine of its senior officers have been appointed as Force Commanders. At a point, Nigeria was ranked the fourth highest troop-contributing country to UN missions and the nation’s strides in global peacekeeping are a major foreign policy plank.

We at the Daily Trust join the world in paying tribute to the unwavering service and sacrifice of UN peacekeepers. We also salute the resilience of the communities they support. These military and paramilitary men and women, along with their civilian participants, have shown exemplary power of global solidarity towards building a peaceful and sustainable world especially in this time of unprecedented challenges.

They represent the spirit of progress and collective action towards creating a more equal and just world, providing life-saving and transformative presence in the world’s most volatile political and insecure environments, helping to guide them along the route for lasting peace.

On this day, we also remind Nigeria to reconsider its withdrawal from UN peacekeeping because of its huge commitment to Internal Security Operations (ISOs). It should join other nations like India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Burundi, which have specialised units recruited and dedicated to peacekeeping. After all, the nation has a population of young men and women who can easily fill the bill.

This is more so as troop-contributing nations benefit from the deployment through various avenues, including financial reimbursement for personnel and equipment they provide for their peacekeeping missions. They also receive professional training and enhance their capabilities in various areas, including engineering, medical support, and communications, while reimbursements also provide additional income for military personnel. After all, a country like Ghana has used UN peacekeeping reimbursement to fund its military, including the purchase of aircraft and military equipment. Nigeria has benefited from this before. It can do it again.

We once again salute the peacekeepers who played prominent roles in returning a reasonable degree of stability to countries such as Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Mozambique, Angola and Cambodia and are still monitoring and preserving the ceasefire in Southern Lebanon and Cyprus.

Yet, we note that there have been failures, notably, the inability of UN peacekeepers to prevent the 1994 Rwanda genocide that killed at least 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and Hutus and the 1995 massacre of at least 8,000 mostly Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica during the war in Bosnia. The UN peacekeeping reputation was also bruised by allegations of peacekeepers sexually abusing women and children, especially in the Central African Republic and Congo. Another high-profile blunder was the cholera epidemic in Haiti in 2010 after UN peacekeepers introduced the bacteria into the country’s largest river by sewage runoff from their base.

Despite all these, UN peacekeepers have been commendable agents of peace and stability. More than any other global institution, UNPKO has recorded remarkable success in preserving ceasefires, protecting civilians from armed attacks and supporting political efforts.

Therefore, we implore the peacekeepers not to relent in fostering international security, peace and progress for all peoples, protecting vulnerable communities, strengthening the security sector and the rule of law, and building the foundations for inclusive, effective and accountable services. Though the UNPKOs may not have a perfect track record yet, no other global institution has come close to it in working to bring stability in the turbulent regions of the world.