A United Nations Medal is an international decoration awarded by the United Nations (UN) to the various world countries members for participation in joint international military and police operations such as peacekeeping, humanitarian efforts, and disaster relief. The medal is ranked in militaries and police forces as a service medal. The United Nations awarded its first medal during the Korean War (1950–1953). Since 1955, many additional United Nations medals have been created and awarded for participation in various United Nations missions and actions around the world.
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka is a South African politician and former United Nations official, who served as the Executive Director of UN Women with the rank of Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations.
Babacar Gaye is a disgraced Senegalese Army General who formerly led the United Nations MINUSCA peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic from July 2014 to August 2015, when he was dismissed for alleged abuses committed by troops under his command. Gaye previously the led UN peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, led Senegalese troops in the Gulf War, served as the head of Senegalese external intelligence, and served as the Senegalese ambassador to Germany.
A special representative of the Secretary-General is a highly respected expert who has been appointed by the Secretary-General of the United Nations to represent them in meetings with heads of state on critical human rights issues. The representatives can carry out country visits to investigate alleged violations of human rights and act as negotiators on behalf of the United Nations.
Brazil to United Nations peacekeeping operations, and has participated in peacekeeping efforts in the Middle East, the former Belgian Congo, Cyprus, Mozambique, Angola, and more recently East Timor and Haiti. Brazil has been regularly elected as a non-permanent member to the Security Council since its first session in 1946 and is now among the most elected UN member states to the UNSC. Brazil was voted to become a member of the 15-country UN Security Council for a two-year term, in 2022-23.
The recent history of changes in women's roles includes having women in the military. Every country in the world permits the participation of women in the military, in one form or another. In 2018, only two countries conscripted women and men on the same formal conditions: Norway and Sweden. A few other countries have laws conscripting women into their armed forces, however with some difference such as service exemptions, length of service, and more. Some countries do not have conscription, but men and women may serve on a voluntary basis under equal conditions. Alenka Ermenc was the first female head of armed forces in any of the NATO member states, having served as the Chief of the General Staff of the Slovenian Armed Forces between 2018 and 2020.
The United Nations Police (UNPOL) is an integral part of the United Nations peace operations. Currently, about 11530 UN Police officers from over 90 countries are deployed in 11 UN peacekeeping operations and 6 Special Political Missions. The "mission of the UN Police is to enhance international peace and security by supporting Member States in conflict, post-conflict and other crisis situations to realise effective, efficient, representative, responsive and accountable police services that serve and protect the population".
Divisional general Carlos Alberto dos Santos Cruz is a Brazilian military officer who previously held the post of Force Commander of the United Nations' peacekeeping force in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He was appointed to this position by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on 17 May 2013 and replaced by Derrick Mbuyiselo Mgwebi on 29 December 2015. He was Minister-Secretary of Government of Brazil, nominated by President Jair Bolsonaro, from 1 January 2019 to 13 June 2019.
The African-led International Support Mission to the Central African Republic was an African Union peacekeeping mission to the Central African Republic. It was established on 5 December 2013 by United Nations Security Council resolution 2127 to stabilise the country as a result of the Central African Republic conflict under the Djotodia administration and following the 2013 Central African Republic coup d'état.
HeForShe, often referred to as He for She, is a solidarity movement for the advancement of gender equality initiated by the United Nations. Grounded in the idea that gender inequality is an issue that affects all people, socially, economically and politically, HeForShe is a global effort that seeks to involve men and boys in achieving equality by taking action against negative gender stereotypes and behaviors. Its logo represents the union of women and men working together to achieve gender equality, by joining together aspects of both the female and male symbols.
United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic is a UN peacekeeping mission, which started on April 10, 2014, to protect Central African Republic civilians under Chapter VII of the UN Charter. It transformed the 6,000-strong African Union-led peacekeeping force known as MISCA into a UN peacekeeping mission and became operational on September 15, 2014. The UN deployed a transition team to set up MINUSCA and prepare for a seamless transition of authority from MISCA to MINUSCA. As of 30 September 2021, it has more than 15,000 troops, police and civilian personnel on the ground. Its role is to:
Lieutenant General Balla Keita is a Senegalese military officer who is the United Nations Force Commander of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA). Prior to this appointment of 11 February 2016 by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Keita served as Acting Force Commander of the Mission.
Rachel Grimes is a retired officer of the British Armed Forces. She worked for almost three decades in the security sector. Grimes has deployed on operations with NATO, the United Nations and as a part of a UK national contingent in war and conflict areas in Europe, Asia and Africa. She has worked in security sector reform, counterinsurgency operations and human security in military operations. Initially working in transport, logistics and air defence missile systems. Grimes went on to be the Army's spokesperson in the MOD and deployed as a media operations officer in Iraq in 2003. She has also worked in the area of influence operations and as a doctrine and policy writer. Grimes was part of the NATO Counterinsurgency Writing Group from 2011 to 2013. She worked in the Democratic Republic of Congo with the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's (MONUSCO's) as the UN Force Commander's Child Protection and Gender Field Advisor in Goma. She deployed to a similar role in Iraq in 2015 and then spent three years at the United Nations HQ in New York acting as a Gender and Child Protection Adviser to the UN Military Adviser. She is keenly aware of the gender dynamics at play in conflict and in peace and has studied the role and contribution of women and military masculinities in Counter Insurgency Operations and the British Army.
Constance Ama Emefa Edjeani-Afenu was the first female brigadier general of the Ghana Armed Forces.
Valentine Sendanyoye Rugwabiza is a Rwandan businesswoman and politician who has served as the country's Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 2016 to 2018. She now is the Special Representative of the Secretary-General and head of MINUSCA, the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic.
In January 2019, a series of clashes occurred in the town of Bambari in the Central African Republic between Union for Peace in the Central African Republic (UPC) rebels against government and United Nations Peacekeeping forces. The clashes cumulated in Operation BEKPA 2, when United Nations forces, including Portuguese and Bangladeshi special operations forces and Nepalese Peacekeepers launched an offensive operation to secure the town.
Marcia Vaune Jocelyn Kran is a Canadian lawyer and expert member of the UN Human Rights Committee. Kran's career has spanned international human rights law, criminal law and political science for over forty years, and includes positions in academia and civil society. Kran has held a range of senior United Nations positions including in international human rights law.
Bintou Keita is a United Nations diplomat from Guinea. She is an expert in conflict resolution. Since January 2021, she has been the Special Representative of the Secretary-General in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Between 6 and 16 December 2021, a number of Muslim civilians were killed and injured by Anti-balaka fighters supported by government forces and Russian mercenaries in the Boyo commune, located in the Ouaka prefecture of the Central African Republic (CAR). These civilians were attacked for their alleged links with Union for Peace in the Central African Republic (UPC) rebels. The attacks are part of the larger CAR Civil War which has been ongoing since 2012.
Boyo is a village located in the Central African Republic prefecture of Ouaka.
