At the ceremony marking the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers

Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dear Friends,

We gather here every year, together with our friends from the Soldiers of Peace International Association, to raise the UN flag to honour our colleagues, friends and loved ones who have given their lives in the service of our Organization and of the ideals the United Nations stands for. We pay tribute to these men and women, both civilians and those wearing the blue helmet, we honour their life and we bow our heads before their sacrifice. They made the ultimate contribution to this Organization and its Member States in the service of all humanity. Known to many or just to a few, each of these staff members has had a positive impact on our world, for having served it, and for having served it well.

Please join me in a minute of silence in their honour. Thank you.

Ladies and Gentlemen,
Once, the United Nations flag was a shield. Today, in too many places around the world the UN flag, and the Organization itself is in need of protection. The United Nations has become a target for terrorist groups and for those who benefit from violence. Again and again, peacekeepers, unarmed civilians, relief workers who have voluntarily gone in to help their fellow men and women, have been deliberately and viciously targeted by armed factions seeking to make a political point, score a military gain, or intimidate the international community.

In 2005, 124 peacekeepers, both military and civilian, died in the line of duty - the highest total for a single year in a decade; and in the first four months of this year alone, another 32 died, including eight Guatemalan soldiers who were brutally murdered in the Democratic Republic of Congo last January.

Today, staff members are increasingly called upon to serve in dangerous areas, and continue to be subjected to threats, hostage taking, physical assault, robbery, theft, harassment and detention. There is no more basic requirement of the United Nations and of its Member States than to provide security for the men and women sent into the field to do the Organization’s work. Impunity should no longer be tolerated and the perpetrators of violence against United Nations staff should be brought to justice.

A useful and long-overdue step in this direction would be for all those States that have not yet done so, to sign, ratify and accede to as soon as possible the 1994 Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel in order to finally make this convention a truly global instrument.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

No matter how our colleagues died, this they shared: they were the living embodiments of an ideal – an ideal of service, solidarity and peace. Hard at work in the villages, conflict zones and devastated areas of the world – and far from most of us at Headquarters and the United Nations more comfortable duty stations – they were united by their bravery in bringing the Charter to life. They upheld the ideals symbolized by the United Nations flag. May they rest in peace. And may we never forget their sacrifice and finish the job they so devotedly began.

Thank you very much.