À l’occasion de la Journée internationale des Casques bleus de l’ONU (29 mai), nous avons rendu hommage à tout le personnel en uniforme et civil qui servent dans les opérations de maintien de la paix des Nations unies. Cette journée est une opportunité de saluer leur précieuse contribution au travail de l’Organisation et de rendre hommage aux plus de 4 000 Casques bleus qui ont perdu la vie en servant sous le drapeau des Nations unies.

Le thème de cette année, « La route vers une paix durable : puiser dans la force des jeunes pour la paix et la…

by Jean-Pierre Lacroix

Over the past year, to be a United Nations peacekeeper in the field has meant adopting new levels of flexibility and resilience in the face of evolving challenges. A hard job has become even harder.

As this global pandemic wreaks havoc, tens of thousands of women and men serving in the 12 peacekeeping missions deployed around the world have adapted to the new reality, taking every precaution to stay safe themselves and prevent the spread of the virus, while continuing to support national and local responses and deliver on lifesaving work. …

by Jean-Pierre Lacroix

Imagine that you live in a town plagued by landmines. Imagine that shopping at the market means walking through a minefield, that stepping off the road risks losing a limb, that allowing your children to play in a field implies risking their lives. This is a reality in nearly 60 countries and territories, where millions of people remain affected by landmines, improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and explosive remnants of war (ERW).

Since the early 1990s, countries have collaborated to rid the world of landmines, leading to the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention of 1997 and other international frameworks…

As part of our month-long May campaign on Youth, Peace and Security, we’re highlighting the crucial work of youth around the world who are actively contributing to building peace within their local communities, and the importance of supporting them as active agents of peace. …

New York, 24 May 2021 — A Kenyan peacekeeper, who recently completed her assignment in Darfur, Sudan is selected to receive the 2020 United Nations Military Gender Advocate of the Year Award.

Military Gender Advisor Steplyne Nyaboga, 32, who served in the recently ended United Nations — African Hybrid Union Operation in Darfur (UNAMID), will receive the award during a virtual ceremony presided over by Secretary-General António Guterres, marking the International Day of UN Peacekeepers on Thursday, 27 May 2021.

By Alpha Koroma, Generations For Peace Lead Pioneer in Sierra Leone

From the mid-1990s to the early 2000s, the Mano River Basin sub-region of West Africa was torn by civil wars that started in Liberia, and soon spread to neighboring countries. With all of West Africa under the threat of destabilization, the UN Security Council deployed six peacekeeping operations across the region from 1993 to 2018, to help build peace and protect local populations.

Lauded as one of the Organization’s biggest success stories, the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) was established in 1999, to help the local government…

by Jean-Pierre Lacroix and Atul Khare

Every day, around 100,000 women and men work as UN peacekeepers in field missions around the world. They serve far from home, in frequently dangerous and always challenging environments to protect, to build and to stabilize. This is our mission, and the context in which peacekeeping operates continue to evolve. The growth of social media and the 24-hour news cycle has created tremendous opportunities to communicate about our work and build support. At the same time, this same phenomenon facilitates the spread and growth of misinformation and disinformation. …

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has been mired in civil war and has suffered from indescribable atrocities and severe human rights abuses for more than two decades. This long-standing conflict has led the second-largest country in Africa to plunge deep into social and political instability and remain in need of critical international support. Established in 2010, the United Nations Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) took over from an earlier UN peacekeeping operation and is mandated to help restore stability and build durable peace.

The engagement of local populations is critical to ensuring…