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UN PhotoUN / PEACEKEEPERS DAY WRAP
STORY: UN / PEACEKEEPERS DAY WRAP
TRT: 05:20
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 05 JUNE 2026, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
1. Various shots, Peacekeeping Memorial at the North Lawn garden of the United Nations Headquarters
2. Wide shot, Secretary-General António Guterres approaching Memorial
3. Various shots, Secretary-General paying tribute to fallen peacekeepers
4. Wide shot, ECOSOC Chamber
5. Wide shot, dais
6. SOUNDBITE (French) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“UN peacekeeping has proven to be one of the international community's most effective responses to conflict. As we meet, more than 50,000 peacekeepers are deployed across the globe protecting civilian lives. They are curbing violence, enabling political solutions, supporting elections, delivering humanitarian assistance, clearing landmines and so much more.”
7. Wide shot, participants
8. SOUNDBITE (French), United Nations:
“I am humbled to posthumously bestow the Dag Hammarskjöld Medal to 68 peacekeepers who have made the ultimate sacrifice, including 59 killed last year. They came from 33 countries, diverse in background but united in the cause of peace.”
9. Med shot, participants
10. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“I am endlessly inspired by the women and men who wear the UN blue helmets. They are protectors of the vulnerable and guardians of hope in places where hope is often in short supply. I extend my deepest gratitude to the tens of thousands of peacekeepers serving under the UN flag across the globe. We stand with them today and every day for security, for dignity and for peace.”
11. Zoom out medals on a table
12. Various shots, Guterres presenting the Captain Mbaye Diagne Medal for Exceptional Courage; Military Gender Advocate of the Year, and UN Woman Police Officer of the Year medals
13. Wide shot, participants applauding
14. Wide shot, dais
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, United Nations:
“Investing in peacekeeping means investing in stability prevention and political solutions. It means recognising that the cost of preventing conflict is always far lower than the cost of responding after violence escalates, and it means ensuring that peacekeepers have the political backing, resources, training and capabilities required to carry out the mandates entrusted to them by member states.”
16. Various shots, participants paying tribute to fallen peacekeepers
17 Various shots, medal parade
Observing the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers today (5 Jun) at UN Headquarters in New York, Secretary-General António Guterres said he was “humbled to posthumously bestow the Dag Hammarskjöld Medal to 68 peacekeepers who have made the ultimate sacrifice, including 59 killed last year.”
After laying a wreath at the Peacekeeping Memorial at the North Lawn garden, Guterres addressed the medal ceremony and said, “UN peacekeeping has proven to be one of the international community's most effective responses to conflict.”
He said more than 50,000 peacekeepers are deployed across the globe, “curbing violence, enabling political solutions, supporting elections, delivering humanitarian assistance, clearing landmines and so much more.”
The Secretary-General noted that the 59 peacekeepers killed last year “came from 33 countries, diverse in background but united in the cause of peace.”
He said, “I am endlessly inspired by the women and men who wear the UN blue helmets. They are protectors of the vulnerable and guardians of hope in places where hope is often in short supply,” and extended his “deepest gratitude to the tens of thousands of peacekeepers serving under the UN flag across the globe.”
Guterres said, “we stand with them today and every day for security, for dignity and for peace.”
During the ceremony, the Secretary-General awarded the “Captain Mbaye Diagne Medal for Exceptional Courage” to Sergeant Matias Reyes of Uruguay for his actions in Goma, in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo during the height of the crisis in early 2025, and to the late Sergii Prykhodko of Ukraine who served as a private contractor in the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and was killed during a mission to extract besieged soldiers in March last year.
He also presented awards to the 2025 Military Gender Advocate of the Year, Major Abhilasha Barak of India, who serves in the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), and to the UN Woman Police Officer of the Year, Stephanie Königs of Germany, who served in UNMISS.
This year’s theme for the Day is “Invest in Peace.”
Peacekeeping Chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix said, “investing in peacekeeping means investing in stability prevention and political solutions. It means recognising that the cost of preventing conflict is always far lower than the cost of responding after violence escalates, and it means ensuring that peacekeepers have the political backing, resources, training and capabilities required to carry out the mandates entrusted to them by member states.
The General Assembly established the Day back in 2002 and selected May 29 as it was the day in 1948 when the Security Council established the first UN Peacekeeping operation, the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization in the Middle East.
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