Three Indian peacekeepers who died in the service of the UN have been honoured with the Dag Hammarskjold Medal amid calls for better protection for peace-keeping personnel in its missions.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres handed over the awards to India's Permanent Representative Ruchira Kamboj at a ceremony in the General Assembly chamber on Thursday.
Before the ceremony, Kamboj said in a video message, "The medal is the highest honour awarded to UN peacekeepers who have distinguished themselves by exceptional courage, devotion to duty and sacrifice in the cause of peace."
Recalling India's role as the country that has historically sent the most number of peacekeepers to UN operations - over 275,000 to 51 missions - she said, "Sadly this has also entailed the supreme sacrifice in the finest traditions of the profession of the arms."
Reflecting on the dangers peacekeepers face in Guterres said, "I commit to doing everything we can to support our peacekeepers in their mission, including improving their safety and security and the effectiveness of peacekeeping through the Action for Peacekeeping Plus (A4P+) strategy."
In December last year, India launched the Group of Friends to promote accountability for crimes against peacekeepers with Bangladesh, Egypt, France, Morocco and Nepal as co-chairs.
The group advocates for bringing to justice those committing crimes against peacekeepers.
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