OMNI
International
Day of United Nations Peacekeepers,
May 29,
2015
Compiled
by Dick Bennett for a Culture of Peace, Justice, and Ecology
Newsletters
Index:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/OMNIPeaceDept
Contents: International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers (in the 70th anniversary of the
United Nations)
What is UN Peacekeeping and What and Why Is the DAY?
IDUNP Google Search
Ken Payumo, Exemplary UN Peacekeeper
Responsibility to Protect
Power Politics: Mazower, The
End of Empire
Dick, Acknowledging UN Agencies and Actions
·
International Day of United Nations
Peacekeepers
International Day of
United Nations Peacekeepers
United Nations Peacekeepers
29 May is the International Day
of United Nations Peacekeepers.
UN
Photo/Albert Gonzalez Farran
Officers
from the Indonesian contingent of UNAMID stand in formation during a
ceremony for the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers in Sudan.
The day was established to:
·
Honour the memory of the UN peacekeepers who have lost their lives
in the cause of peace;
·
Pay tribute to all the men and women who have served and continue
to serve in UN peacekeeping operations for their high level of professionalism,
dedication and courage.
Peacekeepers Day 2015
On 29 May, UN offices, alongside Member States and
non-governmental organizations, hold events to honour fallen peacekeepers.
Since the first UN peacekeeping mission was established in 1948 until April
2015, 3,358 military, police and civilian personnel have lost
their lives in the service of peace as a result of acts of
violence, accidents and disease.
'Together for Peace'
As this year's International Day of UN Peacekeepers falls during the 70th anniversary of the United Nations,
we are reflecting on the past, present and future of UN Peacekeeping and reaffirm
our commitment to working 'Together for Peace'.
Since its inception in 1948, the UN has established 71
peacekeeping operations – in Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe and the Middle
East. The number of people who have been UN peacekeepers — more than 1 million
— far surpasses the total number of staff who had worked for the UN in all
other capacities worldwide.
Today, some 125,000 women and men serve in 16 peacekeeping
missions across the globe. Our peacekeepers are deployed in some of the world's
most challenging and austere environments and mandated with increasingly
complex and difficult tasks. Over the decades, UN Peacekeeping has implemented
a series of reforms to be both 'fit for purpose' and innovative in the
management of our field operations. We continue to strive towards greater
performance, efficiency and cost-effectiveness, introducing new technologies
and strengthening our partnerships worldwide.
Download and share
this year’s poster below:
Events around the world
At the UN Headquarters in New York, the Deputy Secretary-General
on 29 May presides over a wreath-laying ceremony in honour of all peacekeepers
who lost their lives while serving under the UN flag.
In addition, the Dag
Hammarskjöld Medal is awarded posthumously to the peacekeepers
who have fallen while serving in the cause of peace, during the preceding year.
UN peacekeeping operations mark the Day by
strengthening bonds with the local populations that they have been deployed to
serve. For example, by holding sporting events, school and orphanage visits,
art and essay competitions, photo exhibits, neighbourhood clean ups, tree
plantings, concerts, and conferences and workshops on peace issues. Events around
the world will be shared through the tag #Together4Peace.
Previous Peacekeepers Days
The UN General Assembly designated Peacekeepers Day in 2002 [A/RES/57/129
]. In recent
years, we have encouraged the celebration of the Day under a common theme:
]. In recent
years, we have encouraged the celebration of the Day under a common theme:
·
2014: A force for the future – focusing on
how UN Peacekeeping is evolving to meet new challenges
·
2013: Adapting to new challenges –
exploring the changing needs of international peace and security
·
2012: Peacekeeping is a Global Partnership –
highlighting the variety of partnerships we have at every stage of our work.
·
2011: Law. Order. Peace – focusing on our
efforts to strengthen rule of law.
·
2010: Ayiti Kanpe (Haiti Standing) – remembering the earthquake in Haiti
that resulted in the death of 102 UN
personnel, including 97 peacekeepers;
·
2009: Women in peacekeeping – the
important role of womenpeacekeepers;
International Day of UN Peacekeepers on May 29, Google Search, May 25,
2015
www.un.org/press/en/2015/obv1471.doc.htm
United
Nations
3 days ago - The International Day of
United Nations Peacekeepers will be observed on Friday, 29 May, marking the seventh
successive year in which the ...
www.un.org/press/en/2014/obv1336.doc.htm
United
Nations
May 27, 2014 - The International Day of
United Nations Peacekeepers will be observed on Thursday, 29 May, marking the sixth
successive year in which the ...
In
the news
The Express
Tribune - 4 hours ago
The ceremony will take
place on May
29,
marking the annualInternational Day of UN ...
OUPblog - 12 hours ago
NDTV - 3 days ago
www.greeningtheblue.org
› Events
The United Nations General
Assembly designated 29 May as the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers. The day has two
purposes: to honour the ...
www.timeanddate.com
› Calendar › Holidays
Time and
Date
On December 11, 2002, the
UN General assembly designated May 29 as theInternational Day of United Nations Peacekeepers. The day was first
observed on ...
en.wikipedia.org/.../International_Day_of_United_Nations_Pe...
Wikipedia
The "International Day of
United Nations Peacekeepers", May 29, is "a day to pay tribute to all the men and women who
have served and continue to serve in ...
Fri, May 29
https://www.facebook.com/.../International-Day-of-United-Nations-Peace...
International Day of
United Nations Peacekeepers - 29 May. 194 likes · 3 talking about this. Reaffirming that
peacekeeping continues to be among the key...
https://www.facebook.com/events/350378701835379/?ref=98
Theme : Coming Soon When
: May
29, 2015.
Where : UN
Peacekeeping The day has two purposes: °
to honour the memory of the UN peacekeepers who have ...
www.doonething.org/calendar/peacekeepersday.htmUN Peacekeepers help countries torn
apart by conflict create conditions for peace. ...May 29 was designated by
the United
Nations as
the International
Day of ...
Searches related to International Day
of UN Peacekeepers on May 29
The UN created the idea of a “Culture of
Peace” that can emerge from cultures of violence and war. See: United Nations Day of Peace Sept. 21 and
United Nations Day Oct. 24
UNITED NATIONS PEACEKEEPING: Ken Payumo
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Feb
9, 2011 - Making the Responsibility to
Protect Operational - Nationwide Conference Call
A Conversation
with New Zealand
Ambassador to
the UN
UNA-USA
Nationwide Conference Call
6:30 PM
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
(5:30 PM
Central, 4:30 PM Mountain, 3:30 PM Pacific)
Call:1-888-450-4823
Passcode:552658
Please RSVP via
e-mail to Roger Nokes at Rnokes@unausa.org
As we watch the
turmoil in Cote d'Ivoire
On Wednesday,
February 9, join Ambassador James McLay, New Zealand
Call in to
learn about this important concept and about what it will take to make this
promise a reality.
About
Ambassador McLay:
Ambassador
McLay practiced as a barrister before being elected to the New Zealand
Parliament in 1975. Ambassador McLay also served as New Zealand
www.un.org/en/preventgenocide/.../responsibility.shtml
United
Nations
Prevention requires
apportioning responsibility to and promoting collaboration between concerned States
and the international community. The duty to prevent
UN:
POWER POLITICS BY DIPLOMACY AND PROTECTION
Mazower,
Mark. No Enchanted Palace: The End of Empire and the Ideological Origins of
the United Nations. Princeton UP, 2010.
The founders of the UN envisioned no radical break with power politics,
but viewed it as an institution whereby power politics could be pursued by
other means.
UNITED NATIONS AND OMNI’S NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL DAYS PROJECT By Dick Bennett
Several years ago I began to write about
the many days celebrated in the US nationally or internationally. At first I was mystified by the large number
of Days identified as “international,”
“world,” or merely by the subject (torture, wetlands). Gradually I discovered that most or perhaps
all of these Days had been created by the
United Nations; such as, UN World Wetlands Day, UN International Women’s
Day, UN Torture Abolition Day.
Eventually I
wondered why the omissions had happened.
Was it simple laziness, busy people omitting unnecessary words? The other alternative that occurred to me
seemed too conspiratorial, and lacking evidence. Yet the question lingers. Was it deliberate on the part of U.S. government
officials of both parties and therefore by the corporate media pundits? But why would these people not wish to
acknowledge this UN leadership? Had
right-wing nationalists exerted that much influence? Had fear of “losing national sovereignty”
not only blinded so many to the great achievements of the UN but that fear had
inspired downright hostility toward the UN to the extent of not acknowledging
the origin of world/international UN Days?
The omissions appeared dramatically
recently at the local screening of a new film about Tibetan refugees,
particularly the University of Arkansas’ excellent TEXT Program (Tibetan Exiles
Today), in which students travel to India to interview elderly refugees at
Dharamsalam. Not a single mention of the
enormous assistance given to the refugees by the UN. I asked the filmmaker, a student at the
university, where was the UN in all this?
He had no idea, apparently had never thought of how so many people had left their livelihoods to resettle in a very
poor country.
There was another omission in the
film. India’s also large assistance is
absent from the film. Tibetan
settlements dotting the map of India today were not the result of magic, but in
addition to the UN occurred through the exertions of the national, state, and
local governments of India. Perhaps the
silences share similar origins. Perhaps
they derive from the filmmaker’s sense of the irrelevance of the UN and India
to the university’s Tibetan project, the subject of the film. But because of the numerous political
attacks on the UN particularly by Republican Party loyalists (Ambassador Bolton
openly undermined the UN), one might wonder why the UN deletion is so
complete? I do not mean any deliberate intention
by the filmmaker, but that perhaps the filmmaker reflected the aggressive
nationalism one aspect of which is to dismiss even the manifestly humanitarian
actions of the UN. Show the UN to be
wrong, mistaken, stupid, counterproductive, and invisible, and the myth of US exceptionalism can flourish
unimpeded, except for the mountains of evidence shredding the myth. Especially the flaws in the UN peacekeeping
forces are widely supposed and derided, despite the reality of majority success
in their operations.
What’s to be done about the erroneous and
misleading film? Of course I would not
have the film prohibited; its subject is valuable; and I support the First
Amendment. But I think the honest
reputation of the filmmaker and his sponsors would be to add a correction at
the beginning or end of the film.
It’s not only a matter of ethics—of giving
credit where due. The United Nations
was created in response to two World Wars so horrendously lethal that the
century is recalled for its mass slaughters and atrocities. The central purpose of the Charter of the
UN, largely instigated and written by US representatives, is to end wars of
aggression by nations. That ideal is
still urgently important to the world, and although the wars have not been
ended, the good provided by the cooperation of nations through the UN is
incalculable in suffering diminished and lives saved. During the Cold War both of the belligerents
used and undermined the UN for its own purposes. Today let us return to the Charter, the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the dozens of extraordinarily helpful UN
agencies—as well as to the Geneva Conventions and to the Nuremberg
Principles—for building a Culture of Peace for the generations to come.
END International Day of UN
Peacekeepers, May 29, 2015
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