Press Relase

Press Release 

 

United Nations thanks Bhutan for its contribution to peacekeeping.

New York, 5 April- Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, thanked Bhutan for its strong support to United Nations Peacekeeping and for the service and sacrifice of its military and police personnel deployed around the world under the UN flag. 

This year marks the 75th anniversary of UN Peacekeeping. Since 1948, more than two million men and women have served in 71 UN peacekeeping missions, of which 12 operations are still active today, making a tangible difference to the lives of millions of people caught up in conflict. 

Bhutan initially contributed uniformed personnel in 2014 to the UN Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO), the first-ever peacekeeping mission, in the Middle East, as well as to the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA).  

Today, Bhutan provides 211 uniformed personnel, including six women, to eight UN peacekeeping operations making it the 53rd largest contributor. Bhutan’s largest contribution is to MINUSCA where 187 of its peacekeepers currently serve. Bhutan also deploys personnel to the UN peacekeeping missions in Abyei, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, the Middle East, South Sudan and Western Sahara. Peacekeepers from Bhutan also served in UNMIL at the height of the Ebola crisis and in UNAMID. 

In December 2017, Bhutan also became the first country to pledge rapid deployment troops as part of the UN Peacekeeping Capability Readiness System. 

“Bhutanese peacekeepers serve with professionalism and integrity, meaningfully contributing towards the maintenance of international peace and security in very challenging environments. I am grateful for their continued commitment to UN Peacekeeping, as well as for their resolve to minimize the environmental footprint of our missions, thus helping advance the UN Climate Neutral Strategy and Greening the Blue Initiative,” said Mr. Lacroix.    

“The UN appreciates the service and sacrifice of the men and women from Bhutan and count on their continued support to create more agile, effective and accountable UN peacekeeping operations which deliver results.” added Mr. Lacroix.  

Bhutan also endorsed the Secretary-General’s ‘Action for Peacekeeping (A4P)’ initiative, which aims to strengthen peacekeeping through more targeted mandates, stronger and safer operations, better equipped and trained forces, and by mobilizing support for political solutions. 

Note to editors:  

 

UN Peacekeeping Service and Sacrifice: https://peacekeeping.un.org/en/service-and-sacrifice 

Action for Peacekeeping: https://peacekeeping.un.org/en/action-for-peacekeeping-a4p 

 

Media enquiries in Bhutan: 

Ms. Tshering Chuki 

Office of the UN Resident Coordinator  

Tel: +975 2 322 424 

Email: tshering.chuki@un.org  

 

Media enquiries at UNHQ 

 

Department of Global Communications (New York):  

 

Douglas Coffman  

coffmand@un.org  

+ 917 361 9923 

Department of Peace Operations (New York):  

Oana-Raluca Topala 

topala@un.org