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STORY: UN / PEACEKEEPING DAY ADVANCER
TRT: 04:41
SOURCE: UNTV / MINUSTAH / UNMIL / MONUC / UNAMID
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / FRENCH / NATS
DATELINE: 26 MAY 2010, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE - MINUSTAH - 16 FEBRUARY 2010, PORT AU PRINCE, HAITI
1. Med shot, Japanese peacekeeper at dawn in Haiti
2. Close up, barbed wire rack focus onto Japanese peacekeepers
FILE – UNMIL - 16-17 APRIL 2009, BUCHANAN TOWN, GRAND BASSA COUNTY, LIBERIA
3. Tilt up, from gun to female soldier looking out from back of UNMIL truck on patrol
4. Pan left, female sergeant presiding over patrol briefing
UNTV - 26 MAY 2010, NEW YORK CITY
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Alain Le Roy, Under-Secretary-General, Peacekeeping Operations, United Nations:
“It is clear that United Nations peacekeepers go where nobody else wants to go. What they are doing in the eastern Congo? They are there to fight the spoilers and assist the Congolese to fight the spoilers in very difficult conditions. Sometimes in Darfur, you have seen hijacking people being killed by insurgents or banditry. So they are living under very difficult conditions and each time I am visiting a mission I am impressed and same for the SG (Secretary-General). We are all impressed by the dedication and commitment.”
FILE - MONUC - 16 APRIL 2009, DUNGU, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
6. Close up, peacekeeper rotating atop APC
7. Med shot, peacekeepers patrolling
FILE - UNAMID - 26 APRIL 2010, NYALLA, SOUTH DARFUR
8. Med shot, released South African peacekeepers disembarking the helicopter and meeting UNAMID Joint Special Representative (JSR) Ibrahim Gambari
FILE - MINUSTAH - 13 JANUARY 2010, PORT AU PRINCE
9. Aerial shot, collapsed remains of the MINUSTAH headquarters
UNTV - 26 MAY 2010, NEW YORK CITY
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Alain Le Roy, Under-Secretary-General, Peacekeeping Operations, United Nations:
“What happened in Haiti, of course, is so extraordinary and the behaviour of the UN peacekeepers have been so extraordinary before the earthquake and since the earthquake. It was very clear from the first night of the earthquake all peacekeepers, the Brazilian and others were, on the spot trying to remove the rubble to find their colleagues and Haitian population outside to find them and to extract them from the rubble.”
FILE - MINUSTAH - 19 JANUARY 2010, PORT AU PRINCE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, HAITI
11. Wide shot, caskets with fallen Brazilian Peacekeepers
12. Zoom out, trumpeter and caskets
FILE – MINUSTAH - 13, JANUARY 2010, PORT AU PRINCE, HAITI
13. Med shot, MINUSTAH headquarters entrance
14. Various shots, peacekeepers looking for survivors under rubble
FILE - MINUSTAH – 26 MAY 2010, PORT AU PRINCE, HAITI
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Edmond Mulet, Head, United Nations Mission in Haiti:
“With the earthquake everything has changed, not only for Haiti and the Haitians, but for us also, the UN and Peacekeeping. So we have to be here for a longer time in order to help the government to stabilize the country and assist in the recuperation and reconstruction of the country.”
FILE – MINUSTAH - 16 JANUARY 2010, PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI
16. Various shots, Bolivian aid workers and peacekeepers distribute rice and beans
FILE – MINUSTAH - 21 JANUARY 2010, CITE SOLEIL, HAITI
17. Various shots, peacekeepers on night patrol
MINUSTAH – 26 MAY 2010, PORT AU PRINCE, HAITI
18. SOUNDBITE (French) Edmond Mulet, Chief of MINUSTAH:
“After what I saw here, as primary witness of our friends’ and colleagues’ reaction from all over the world – not only those who were here during the earthquake, but also the support we received form other missions throughout the world, even on a temporary and voluntary base to help us - this association and solidarity demonstrated and is for me the evidence that I am at the right place together with people of great qualities. I feel personally very honoured and glad to be a member of that family.”
FILE – MINUSTAH - 18 JANUARY 2010, PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI
19. Various shots, Jordanian peacekeepers controlling the crowd
20. Various shots, Jordanian peacekeepers distributing food
FILE – MINUSTAH - 22 JANUARY 2010 PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI
21. Various shots, Brazilian peacekeepers handing out food
22. Various shots, peacekeeper on a tank (APC) watching the crowd
In advance of the International Day of United Nations (UN) Peacekeepers, to be observed on 29 May, Alain Le Roy, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, and Edmond Mulet, head of the UN Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) talk about the courage and endurance of peacekeepers working in difficult conditions including life threatening situations.
There are currently more than 124,000 peacekeepers deployed in 15 operations worldwide. Since the establishment of the first peacekeeping mission, UN Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) in 1948, violence, accidents and disease have cost the lives of more than 2,700 individuals working in hotspots around the world, from the Middle East to the Balkans, Africa and beyond.
In an exclusive interview with UNifeed, Le Roy said that “United Nations peacekeepers go where nobody else wants to go.” He added they often work under difficult conditions in places such as the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and Darfur.
Recently, four unarmed South African peacekeepers serving the UN-African Union Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) were reportedly abducted by kidnappers or carjackers. They were released after spending two weeks in captivity.
Earlier this year, the UN experienced the biggest single loss of life in peacekeeping history when it lost 101 personnel including 96 peacekeepers during the earthquake in Haiti.
This year’s peacekeeping day commemoration will honour these fallen peacekeepers as well as others who continued looking for survivors and recovering the remains of those who perished.
Le Roy commented on the “extraordinary” behaviour of the peacekeepers who “from the first night of the earthquake” were “on the spot trying to remove the rubble to find their colleagues and Haitian population.”
Brazil, which has played a strong leading role in the peacekeeping mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) since its inception in 2004, lost 20 of its nationals, more than any other troop or police contributing country.
Other than Brazil, a total of 29 UN Member States lost uniformed or civilian personnel in the disaster.
In an effort to boost MINUSTAH’s technical and operational capabilities, after the losses that it had suffered during the earthquake, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon requested that the Security Council authorize an expansion of the mission’s police force to help the Haitian national police force re-establish a visible presence to protect particularly the country’s displaced.
Edmond Mulet took over the leadership of MINUSTAH after Hédi Annabi, who led the mission from 2007 died in the earthquake. He said the mission will be in the country for a longer period “in order to help the government to stabilize the country and assist in the recuperation and reconstruction of the country.”
Today peacekeepers work with various UN humanitarian agencies to distribute aid as well as support Haitian authorities’ efforts to relocate displaced people into safer resettlement camps. They continue to conduct daily patrols in the camps to ensure the safety of the displaced and vulnerable. According to the UN Refugee Agency, almost two million people were displaced as a result of the earthquake.
Mulet said that the solidarity demonstrated in the aftermath of the earthquake has given him reason to believe that he is “at the right place together with the people of great qualities.”
