Twelve deceased peacekeepers from Bangladesh will be honoured by the United Nations on Friday when it will observe the International Day of UN Peacekeepers.
Antonio Guterres, UN secretary-general, will lay a wreath to honour all peacekeepers who lost their lives since 1948.
He will preside over a ceremony in which the Dag Hammarskjold Medal will be awarded posthumously to 119 military, police and civilian peacekeepers, who laid down their lives in 2018 and early 2019.
Twelve Bangladeshi peacekeepers would be among those honoured, the UN said in a statement.
They are — SNK Arzan Howlader and SNK Md Ripul Miah who served with UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in the Central African Republic; SNK Mohammad Jamal Uddin, WO Mohammad Abul Kalam Azad, SNK Mohammad Rayhan Ali, LCPL Mohammad Akter Hossain, and SNK Mohammad Rasheduzzaman who served with United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in Mali; SNK Md Zane Alam who served with the UN Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the DR Congo; SNK Md Motiar Rahman, SNK Md Monjur Ali, LCPL Md Mizanur Rahaman and LCDR Md Ashraf Siddiqui who served with the UN Mission in South Sudan.
Bangladesh is the second-largest contributor of uniformed personnel to UN Peacekeeping.
It currently deploys more than 6,600 military and police personnel to nine peacekeeping missions in Abyei, CAR, DR Congo, Haiti, Lebanon, Mali, Sudan, South Sudan and Western Sahara.
While the day will be marked at UN Head Quarter on Friday, UN missions and offices around the world will commemorate the Day on May 29.
