United Nations to honour 2 Indian peacekeepers posthumously

The United Nations will posthumously award the prestigious “Dag Hammarskjöld Medal” to two Indian peacekeepers — Brigadier Amitabh Jha and Havildar Sanjay Singh — in recognition of their supreme sacrifice in the service of global peace.

Brigadier Amitabh Jha was attached to the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), overseeing the delicate ceasefire arrangements in the Golan Heights, while Havildar Sanjay Singh was deployed with the United Nations Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO), where he worked to stabilise conflict-affected regions.

The medals will be presented posthumously during a solemn ceremony at the United Nations headquarters in New York today (May 29), marking the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers — an occasion dedicated to honouring over 4,300 peacekeepers who have lost their lives since 1948 while serving under the UN flag.

The Dag Hammarskjöld Medal, established by UN Security Council in 1997, is named after the second UN Secretary-General, Dag Hammarskjöld, who died in a 1961 plane crash while on a peace mission. The medal is awarded annually to military, police and civilian personnel who make the ultimate sacrifice while serving in UN peacekeeping operations.

India, as one of the largest contributors to UN peacekeeping missions, has provided more than 2,00,000 personnel across 49 missions over the decades, and many Indian peacekeepers have been honoured with this medal in past years.