NEW YORK: At least 32 UN peacekeeping personnel, including seven from Pakistan, were killed in deliberate attacks against them last year, according to the UN Staff Union.
For the ninth year in a row, the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) was the deadliest for peacekeepers with 14 fatalities, followed by 13 fatalities in the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), four fatalities in the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) and one fatality in the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
Among the 32 fatalities were 28 military and 4 police personnel, including a woman police officer, the press release said. “Peacekeepers and the civilian personnel who work side by side with them are on the front lines of the United Nations’ work in the world’s most challenging environments,” Staff Union President Aitor Arauz said in a statement.
“Each malicious attack against UN personnel is a blow to peacekeeping, one of the pillars of the multilateral edifice,” Arauz said. –Agencies
