United Nations Day of Peacekeepers

That the Parliament notes that 29 May 2021 marks the United Nations Day of Peacekeepers, which this year celebrates the theme of The Road to a Lasting Peace: Leveraging the Power of Youth for Peace and Security; highlights that tens of thousands of young peacekeepers, aged 18 to 29, are deployed around the world and play a major role in helping to promote UN missions and the protection of civilians from harm; further notes that by 2030 the number of young people aged 15-24 is projected to increase to nearly 1.3 billion, with 87% of youths living in developing countries and a further 30% living in fragile and conflict-affected countries; understands that the day offers a chance to pay tribute to the uniformed and civilian personnel’s invaluable contribution to the work of the UN and to honour the more than 4,000 peacekeepers who have lost their lives serving under the UN flag since 1948, including 130 in 2020 alone; acknowledges the particular challenges faced by UN peacekeepers, who are having to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic and the continued requirement to support and protect the people in the countries in which they are based; further understands that the first UN peacekeeping mission was established on 29 May 1948; recognises that more than one million women and men have served in 72 UN peacekeeping operations, saving countless lives; welcomes that, to mark the day at the UN Headquarters in New York on 27 May, the UN Secretary-General will lay a wreath, that a virtual ceremony will be held and that the Dag Hammarskjold medal will be awarded posthumously to the peacekeepers who lost their lives in 2020 and in January 2021; further welcomes the Scottish Government’s commitment to international development and to peace, with a humane approach to all policy decisions, and calls on the UK Government to approach humanitarian and international conflict in the spirit of international peace and of supporting people in areas of conflict.