New York: United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has honored Nepali peacekeeper Bhupajit Rai posthumously with the Dag Hammarskjold medal. Rai served in the UN stabilization mission in Congo.
At a ceremony organized at the UN Headquarters to mark the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers on Thursday, Secretary-General Guterres handed over the honor presented to the Permanent Representative of Nepal to UN Lok Bahadur Thapa, on behalf of Rai.
Highlighting the bravery, dedication, and devotion of Rai, who sacrificed his life while fulfilling his duty, the Secretary-General expressed his confidence that Rai would remain an inspiration for all those deployed in peacekeeping missions.
Rai passed away in Congo on October 13 last year.
The International Day of UN Peacekeepers has been observed since 1948 which marks the deployment of military observers to the Middle East to supervise the implementation of Israel-Arab Armistice Agreements, in what became the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization.
Since then, more than two million peacekeepers from 125 countries have served in 71 operations around the world.
At present, some 76,000 women and men are serving in 11 conflict zones across Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.
Nepal is the largest contributor of military and police personnel to UN peace operations with more than 6,000 now serving in Abyei, the Central African Republic of the Congo, Cyprus, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iraq, Kosovo, Lebanon, Libya, the Middle East, Somalia, South Sudan, Western Sahara and Yemen.
The Nepal government has been deploying the Nepal Army, Armed Police Force, and Nepal Police personnel as peacekeepers.
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