India reiterated its “unflinching commitment” to UN peacekeeping as it paid tribute to fallen peacekeepers at a solemn ceremony held in New York on the occasion of the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers.
The permanent missions of India and Austria to the United Nations jointly organised the event on Friday to honour peacekeepers who lost their lives in the line of duty. India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Harish Parvathaneni, said the “Blue Helmets continue to be the face of the UN in crisis spots in different parts of the world”.
“Salute the UN Peacekeepers whose tireless efforts in the most dangerous settings bring peace and stability around the world. India has an unflinching commitment to UN Peacekeeping and it will continue its efforts towards this noble goal,” Parvathaneni said.
A post by the Indian mission on X stated that the solemn event paid tribute to more than 4,000 brave men and women, uniformed and civilian peacekeepers, who laid down their lives for peace.
India, one of the largest troop-contributing countries, has deployed nearly three lakh troops across more than 50 UN peacekeeping missions since 1948. According to the Indian mission, about 184 Indian peacekeepers have made the supreme sacrifice in the line of duty.
The International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers is observed annually on May 29, marking the day in 1948 when the UN Security Council established the first peacekeeping operation, the United Nations Truce Supervision Organisation in the Middle East. The UN Headquarters in New York will observe the day on June 5, when Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will lay a wreath to honour fallen peacekeepers and present the Dag Hammarskjöld Medal posthumously to 68 military, police and civilian personnel who lost their lives in service, including 59 who died last year.
This year, Lance Havildar Harbhajan Singh, who served with the United Nations Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), and Naib Subedar Sujit Kumar Pradhan, deployed with the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), will be honoured posthumously.
In addition, Guterres will present the 2025 Military Gender Advocate of the Year award to Major Abhilasha Barak of India, who serves with the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). She has been recognised for her outreach work with women and girls during her deployment and currently serves as Commander of the Female Engagement Team (FET) with the Indian Battalion. She is also the first woman combat helicopter pilot of the Indian Army.
Barak will become the third Indian recipient of the award, after Major Suman Gawani and Major Radhika Sen. Gawani, who served with UNMISS, received the 2019 United Nations Military Gender Advocate of the Year Award, while Sen, who served with MONUSCO, received the 2023 award.
India is the second-largest contributor of uniformed personnel to UN peacekeeping, currently deploying more than 4,200 military and police personnel, including 155 women, across missions in Abyei, the Central African Republic, Cyprus, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lebanon, the Middle East, Somalia, South Sudan and Western Sahara. More than 180 Indian peacekeepers have made the supreme sacrifice in the line of duty, the highest number from any troop-contributing country.
(With inputs from PTI)
