Politics
Safety of all active peacekeepers must be respected: UN – SABC News
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has unanimously adopted a resolution seeking to strengthen mechanisms for accountability for crimes against UN peacekeepers.
At least seven peacekeepers have been killed in 2026, all part of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon where they were caught up in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
United Nations figures point to nearly 4 500 peacekeepers having died since peacekeeping operations began in 1948, with 59 fatalities recorded in 2025 alone.
The resolution condemns in the strongest terms all attacks directed against UN personnel serving in peacekeeping operations and further underscores that such attacks may constitute war crimes.
Consensus in the Security Council – as members seek to address a major concern around the lack of accountability for the targeting of those operating under the UN Flag – in violation of international law.
The resolution co-authored by Denmark and Pakistan who’s Ambassador is Asim Iftikar Ahmad.
“Across several missions, attacks against UN peacekeepers have increased in number and sophistication. Peacekeepers are being targeted, often with little accountability. This draft resolution seeks to move the council beyond statements condemning these attacks. Council’s pronouncements are important. Condolences are necessary, but they are not enough. When peacekeepers are killed or injured as a result of attacks while performing mandates authorised by this council. Then the council must remain seized of what happens next. Whether facts are established, whether investigations are being pursued, whether perpetrators have been identified, and whether justice is done.”
The resolution stresses that accountability for attacks against UN personnel was essential to deter future attacks while safeguarding the operations’ effectiveness; it recalls the responsibility of host states to work with peacekeeping operations to enhance safety, and also to investigate all acts of violence against UN personnel; it requests the Secretary General to ensure that peacekeeping operations promptly establish clear factual records of incidence and make them available to host states’ investigations and further requests the SG to submit an annual report on the status of investigations and prosecutions.
Danish envoy, Christina Markus Lassen says, “The unanimous support for this resolution sends a strong and important message to the over 50 000 personnel currently serving in peacekeeping missions across the globe, from Lebanon over Cyprus to South Sudan and the Central African Republic. It sends a message of solidarity that this council, this body which sets their mandate, stand firmly behind them to the troop and police contributing countries, many of whom have co-sponsored today’s resolution, who deploy their most precious resource in support of peace, it sends a message of reassurance that the event of any crime against their peacekeepers, this Council and the United Nations systems is ready, willing and able to step in and to the perpetrators of any crimes, wherever and whoever they are.”
With some Council members paying a personal tribute to the lives lost in their own transitions from war to peace.
Liberian Ambassador, Lewis Garseedah Brown II says, “Liberians remember, with profound gratitude and deep regret, the 200 personnel who lost their lives on our soil to safeguard our lives. While we cannot restore those lost lives, Liberia joins this resolution to ensure the safety of all active peacekeepers is protected and respected. Shielding these guidelines through strict accountability is indispensable as attacks against them violate international humanitarian law and rightly so, constitute war crimes. In closing, Madam President, peacekeepers once secured the Liberian nation. It is now our honoured duty to secure theirs. This council must continue to match the service and sacrifice of peacekeepers with absolute and deserved accountability.”
UN data shows that 60 South Africans have lost their lives since UN peace operations began in 1948 – the vast majority serving in the DRC, Sudan’s Darfur region and Burundi.
Three South African peacekeepers Private Mokete Joseph Mobe; Private Andries Tshidiso Mabele; and Ms Mohlatlego Annikie Kgobe all lost their lives while serving in the DRC in 2024 and 2025 and were posthumously honoured with the Dag Hammarskjöld Medal for fallen personnel at a sombre ceremony earlier this month.
More than 122 countries including South Africa, co-sponsored the resolution.
