United Nations: Five Indian peacekeepers, among 83 military, police and civilian personnel, who died while serving in UN peacekeeping missions last year, will be honoured on May 29, the International Day of UN Peacekeepers.
They will posthumously receive the Dag Hammarskjold Medal for courage and sacrifice in the line of duty. The Indian peacekeepers who will be honoured are, Major Ravi Inder Singh Sandhu and Sergeant Lal Manotra Tarsem, who served with the UN Mission in South Sudan; Sergeant Ramesh Singh with the UN Interim Force in Lebanon; Private Johnsion Beck with the UN Disengagement Observer Force and Edward Agapito Pinto, who served in a civilian capacity with the UN Organisation Stabilisation Mission in Congo.
India is the 5th largest contributor of uniformed personnel to UN Peacekeeping. It currently contributes more than 5,400 military and police personnel to the UN peacekeeping operations in Abyei, Cyprus, Congo, Lebanon, the Middle East, Sudan, South Sudan, Western Sahara as well as one expert to the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres will lay a wreath to honour all the UN peacekeepers who died since 1948.
A day before, as a moment of pride to India, Major Suman Gawani of the Indian Army, a Military Observer, formerly deployed with the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) won the prestigious United Nations Military Gender Advocate of the Year Award in 2019. She will also be honoured on May 29.
