To commemorate the International Day of Peacekeepers, UNIC Bujumbura organized and hosted a launching ceremony of the “Brothers in Arm” international photo exhibition, on 1 June, celebrating the outstanding military and rehabilitation efforts carried out by the UN Political Office for Somalia (UNPOS) and the African Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), over the past five years.

The welcoming remarks were made respectively by the Military Advisor for the UN Office in Burundi (BNUB), on behalf of the UN System, the AMISOM Deputy Force Commander, Brigadier General Audace Nduwumunsi, and the Special Assistant of the Minister of Defense on behalf of the Government.

The photo exhibition was attended by invitees from the Ministry of Defense, National Police, Diplomatic corps, UN System, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Presidency of the Republic.
Produced by the African Union and UN Information Support Team, the exhibition depicts the peacekeeping efforts by AMISOM soldiers from Uganda and Burundi in war torn Mogadishu. The photographs were taken by Ugandan and Burundian military photographers.

UNIC Bujumbura will keep the photo exhibition for two weeks, from 1 to 15 June 2012, and organize for secondary school children as well as soldiers who are preparing to join AMISSOM, to visit and be briefed. 
The exhibition was first shown in Nairobi, and following a successful exhibition in this town, was taken to Kampala, Uganda in April 2012.

The launch ceremony in Bujumbura was highly covered by the local media.

On 2 June, the UN Information Centre (UNIC) Moscow organized a roundtable discussion dedicated to the International Day of UN Peacekeepers with the Assistant Secretary-General (ASG) DPKO Dmitry Titov, as a guest speaker.

The event was attended by 25 representatives of MFA, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Defence and veteran UN peacekeepers.

Dmitry Titov articulated a 25-minute presentation to several generations of UN peacekeepers – from 1970s to the present day – who were in attendance. As a result, the ensuing discussion proved constructive and consistent, with the participants not only seeking clarification on certain points of the narrative, but also suggesting ways to promote closer cooperation between DPKO and various Russian entities.

To celebrate the International Day of UN Peacekeepers, Ms. Kiran Bedi, former Police Adviser in the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), inaugurated India and UN Peacekeeping, an exhibition jointly presented by the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC), United Schools Organisation of India (USO) and India International Centre (IIC). The photo exhibition, which opened on 27 May, continued until 31 May 2011, in the lawns of the prestigious India International Centre in Delhi.

Curated by UNIC, the exhibit highlights India’s engagement with UN peacekeeping that began as early as 1953. Today, 8,842 Indian personnel help keep the peace in nine UN peacekeeping missions throughout the world. 140 Indian soldiers have paid the ultimate price by laying down their lives while participating in UN peacekeeping operations.

The exhibition contained DPKO’s backgrounder on peacekeeping operations, the UN Secretary-General’s message for the Day, a panel dedicated to India’s role in UN peacekeeping, and a dozen India-specific photo panels culled from DPKO resources. The panels were creatively punctuated by Blue Helmets. The design of the exhibition and its contents were greatly appreciate by the vast numbers of visitors to the show.

UNIC Library supported the exhibit with a display of books and a bibliography of UN resources (both print and online) on UN peacekeeping.

There was high media interest in the exhibition, The Hindu and Asian Age carried prominent pictures from the inauguration. 5 television channels covered the opening; another TV channel separately interviewed UNIC Director Kiran Mehra-Kerpelman on the significance of the exhibition.

Following its showing at the India International Centre, the exhibit will move to the lobby of the United Schools Organisation, where it will continue to inspire school teachers being trained in that institute.

On 30 May 2011, a moving ceremony to commemorate the International Day of UN Peacekeepers gathered at the Palais des Nations in Geneva some 150 former peacekeepers from Slovakia, the Ukraine, Australia, Ireland, France and many other countries, as well as diplomats, journalists and UN staff. Some 100 school children also attended at the invitation of the International Association of Soldiers for Peace, which co-organized the event with the United Nations Information Service at Geneva. The Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, Mr Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, led a wreath-laying and flag-raising ceremony at the United Nations Memorial in the Ariana Park, and honoured “the courage of the 120,000 personnel actively serving around the globe and those who have lost their lives in the cause of peace.”

As part of the commemoration, the Director-General also opened a round-table discussion on “The Rule of Law”, the theme of this year’s Day, and made a statement indicating the importance the activities of peacekeepers in this field in various countries and regions of the world. Speakers included representatives of several major troop-contributing countries, as well as the President of the International Association of Soldiers for Peace. They engaged with the audience in a round-table discussion around the rule of law and, more generally, on the need to recognize better the Blue Helmets’ contribution to peace. The round-table also featured the projection of a recorded message by the Deputy Secretary-General and a UN video produced for this year’s commemoration.

Among the many interventions from the audience, the Permanent Representative of Lebanon underlined the importance of this commemoration, particularly in the light of the recent attack against the UN peacekeeping mission in her country, and thanked UNIFIL soldiers “with humility” for their important work.