On May 29th, 1948, the United Nations created the Peace Operations, dedicated to helping countries navigate from conflict to peace.

This week, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres laid a wreath at the Peacekeepers Memorial to honor the more than 4,000 women and men who have lost their lives while serving under the blue flag.

From the 1940’s to today, the threats have changed, and the organization has had to adapt to new challenges.

Earlier, Anand Naidoo spoke with the UN Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, Jean Pierre Lacroix.

To discuss:

• Zhou Bo is a Senior Fellow at Tsinghua University.
• Abdullahi Boru Halakhe is an Africa security and policy analyst.
• Saeed Khan is a lecturer in the History Department at Wayne State University.

For more:

Today, we award the Dag Hammarskjöld medal to 129 @UN Peacekeepers who lost their life serving under the UN flag in recent months.

Their ultimate sacrifice will not be forgotten, and they will always be in our hearts. pic.twitter.com/QxtZhbVQNw

— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) May 27, 2021

We pay tribute to the sacrifices & achievements of UN peacekeepers serving🌎. As we honour the 1+ million women & men who have served, we remember the 4000+ who lost their lives in the line of duty. We are eternally grateful for their service & remember their sacrifice. #PKDay pic.twitter.com/eSM0JwVsTG

— Jean-Pierre Lacroix (@Lacroix_UN) May 27, 2021