International Day of UN Peacekeepers 2025 banner
Photo:UN/DPO

The Future of Peacekeeping

For nearly 80 years, United Nations peacekeepers have delivered tangible change to communities worldwide. From Liberia and Namibia to Cambodia, Sierra Leone and Timor-Leste, their presence has been life-saving and transformative in some of the most volatile political and security contexts, guiding countries from conflict towards lasting peace.

Observed under the theme “The Future of Peacekeeping” this year’s International Day looks at the invaluable contributions military, police and civilian peacekeepers have made over the last nearly eight decades. It encapsulates the spirit of progress and collective action towards creating a more equal, just and sustainable world.

Today, more than 76,000 civilians, military, and police personnel serve in 11 UN peacekeeping missions, confronting increasingly complex and interconnected challenges shaped by a shifting geopolitical landscape. Despite the challenges, peacekeepers remain steadfast in their pursuit of peace.

The International Day pays tribute to their unwavering service and sacrifice, as well as the resilience of the communities they support. It also solemnly honors the more than 4,000 peacekeepers who have lost their lives in the cause of peace, including 26 in 2024 alone.

Peace Begins with Me Campaign


Join the global movement for peace. Show your support for peacekeepers, community leaders, activists and many others committed to making the world more secure, inspiring us all to take action for peace. Visit the campaign website for more information.

Learn more about the Campaign

Service and Sacrifice Campaign

 

Peacekeepers make immense sacrifices. They serve at great personal risk and under harsh conditions. Many have paid with their lives. The families of peacekeepers share that sacrifice. This campaign pays tribute to service and sacrifice of peacekeepers who risk their lives every day to protect the communities that they serve.

Learn more about the Campaign

Events

To mark the International Day at UN Headquarters, the UN Secretary-General will lay a wreath at the Peacekeepers Memorial in honour of fallen peacekeepers at 2:45 p.m. ET on Thursday, 29 May 2025.

Following that, at 3 p.m. ET, he will preside over an in-person ceremony at which the Dag Hammarskjold Medal will be awarded posthumously to fallen peacekeepers. He will also present the UN Military Gender Advocate of the Year award and the UN Woman Police Officer of the Year awards.

The Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, will be the guest at the noon briefing on 29 May.

Learn more about peacekeeping

Related Websites

Two Nigerian peackeepers await an inspection of their base.

UN Peacekeeping helps countries navigate the difficult path from conflict to peace. We have unique strengths, including legitimacy, burden sharing, and an ability to deploy troops and police from around the world, integrating them with civilian peacekeepers to address a range of mandates set by the UN Security Council and General Assembly.

 

MINUSMA Search and Detect Team Surveys Road in Mali

“To save succeeding generations from the scourge of war" are among the first very words of the UN Charter (in its Preamble), and those words were the main motivation for creating the United Nations, whose founders had lived through the devastation of two world wars by 1945. Since the UN's creation on 24 October 1945 (the date its Charter came into force), the United Nations has often been called upon to prevent disputes from escalating into war, or to help restore peace following the outbreak of armed conflict, and to promote lasting peace in societies emerging from wars.

an abstract illustration of people engaged in an event

International days and weeks are occasions to educate the public on issues of concern, to mobilize political will and resources to address global problems, and to celebrate and reinforce achievements of humanity. The existence of international days predates the establishment of the United Nations, but the UN has embraced them as a powerful advocacy tool. We also mark other UN observances.