Under UN General Assembly Resolution 57/129 [PDF] of Feb. 24, 2003, today, May 29 is designated "International Day of UN Peacekeepers."
It's worth taking a moment to consider the contributions that UN peacekeepers (military and civilian) make to international peace and security, in the most difficult circumstances (Darfur, Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo).
UN peacekeepers are currently the second largest internationally deployed military force in the world (after the US military). Over 90,000 peacekeeping troops and police from 117 countries are deployed under UN command in 16 peacekeeping missions that are helping to keep the peace from East Timor to Haiti to Sudan to Lebanon.
The dramatic increase in UN peacekeeping since the end of the Cold War corresponds to a significant decrease in armed conflict since the end of the Cold War. But peacekeeping is badly overstretched.
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