UN Honours 3 Indian Peacekeepers Killed In Line Of Duty

The three peacekeepers were awarded the Dag Hammarskjold Medal during a virtual ceremony on the occasion of International Day of UN Peacekeepers.

Three Indian peacekeepers, who laid down their lives while serving in United Nations (UN) peacekeeping missions last year, are among 129 military, police and civilian personnel honoured on Thursday with a prestigious UN medal awarded posthumously for courage and sacrifice in the line of duty. Corporal Yuvraj Singh, who served with the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), and two civilian peacekeepers -- Ivan Michael Picardo, who served with UNMISS, and Mulchand Yadav, who worked for the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) -- were honoured posthumously with the Dag Hammarskjold Medal during a sombre virtual ceremony on the occasion of the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers. India is the fifth largest contributor of uniformed personnel to UN peacekeeping with more than 5,500 military and police serving in peace operations in Abyei, Cyprus, Congo, Lebanon, the Middle East, Somalia, South Sudan and the Western Sahara, according to the UN. "On the occasion of the UN International Day of peacekeepers, I salute the men and women who serve in UN peacekeeping missions in foreign lands to preserve international peace and security," India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador, TS Tirumurti, said.