The United Nations marked the International Day of U.N. Peacekeepers on Friday with a renewed call for political and financial support for peacekeeping operations as conflicts grow more complex and resources shrink worldwide.
The annual observance honours the more than 50,000 civilian, military and police personnel serving in 11 U.N. peacekeeping missions and commemorates peacekeepers who died in the line of duty.
This year’s theme, “Invest in Peace,” comes amid mounting financial pressures on U.N. operations and rising global instability.
“Peacekeeping is a proven and cost-effective way to restore stability and hope,” U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said in a message released on Thursday. “But it requires steady political backing – and reliable financial support.”
Guterres said nearly 4,500 peacekeepers have died since U.N. peacekeeping operations began in 1948, including 59 last year.
“No one should die serving the cause of peace,” he said, adding that attacks on peacekeepers violate international humanitarian law.
The main commemorative events at U.N. headquarters in New York will take place on June 5, when Guterres is scheduled to lay a wreath in honour of fallen peacekeepers and award the Dag Hammarskjöld Medal posthumously to 68 military, police and civilian personnel who died while serving under the U.N. flag.
The secretary-general will also present the Captain Mbaye Diagne Medal for Exceptional Courage to Corporal Matias Reyes of Uruguay for actions taken during the 2025 crisis in Goma in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The medal will also be awarded posthumously to Sergii Prykodko of Ukraine, a contractor serving with the United Nations Mission in South Sudan, who was killed during a mission to evacuate besieged soldiers in March last year.
Major Abhilasha Barak of India, serving with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, will receive the 2025 Military Gender Advocate of the Year award, while Stephanie Königs of Germany, who served with UNMISS, will be named U.N. Woman Police Officer of the Year.
U.N. peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix said peacekeepers continue to protect civilians and prevent violence despite worsening conflicts and declining resources.
“Investing in peacekeeping means investing in stability, prevention and the possibility of peace itself,” Lacroix said.
The International Day of U.N. Peacekeepers is observed annually on May 29, marking the establishment in 1948 of the first U.N. peacekeeping mission, the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization in the Middle East.
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