The Peruvian Joint Armed Forces and the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) in Lima organized a special ceremony to commemorate the 60th Anniversary of UN Peacekeeping Operations and the International Day of UN Peacekeepers. The military ceremony took place on 28 May in the Joint Forces Peace Training Centre (CECOPAZ) in Lima.
The Peruvian contingent that will soon join the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) participated in the ceremony, led by the head of the Fifth Division of the Military Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Juan Navarro Lavi. Other participants included the director of CECOPAZ, the UN Resident Coordinator, UNIC’s Information Officer, Security Adviser, UN Department of Safety and Security, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Information Officer as well as other military officers, peacekeeping operations veterans and troops.
The Resident Coordinator read the Secretary-General’s message, and praised the work of the Peruvian peacekeepers during the 50 years they have been participating in peacekeeping missions. “I honor the army of Peruvian heroes Bolognesi, Quiñonez and Grau for professionally carrying out their task for peace in the world”, he said.
In the main patio of CECOPAZ, the Peruvian blue helmets recited the “Creed of the Soldier for Peace”, which obliges them to protect human rights. During the ceremony, homage was paid to Army General Christian Sanchez, who was Chief of the Peru Battalion during Operation UNEF II in the Sinai Peninsula in 1974, and Army General Luis Block Urban, who commanded the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) from April to September 1992.