UN to observe Int’l Day of Peacekeepers tomorrow



News Desk, Barta24.com
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UN Headquarters will observe the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers on Thursday (27 May).

UN Secretary-General António Guterres will lay a wreath to honour the more than 4,000 UN peacekeepers who have lost their lives since 1948 and will preside over a ceremony at which the Dag Hammarskjöld Medal will be awarded posthumously to 129 military, police and civilian peacekeepers, who lost their life serving under the UN flag last year and in the first month of this year, said a media release from UN Bangladesh office on Wednesday.

The release said, among the fallen peacekeepers to be honoured are eight from Bangladesh:  WO Abdul Md HALIM who served with MINUSMA; LCpl Md Abdulla Al MAMUN and Sgt Mohammad IBRAHIM who served with United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA), Sgt Md Mobarak HUSSAIN, LCl Md Saiful ISLAM, WO Md Saiful Imam BHUIYAN and SGT Md Ziaur RAHMAN who were deployed with the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO); and Washerman Nurul AMIN of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).          

Bangladesh is the largest contributor of uniformed personnel to UN Peacekeeping.  It currently deploys more than 6,600 military and police personnel to the UN operations in Abyei, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lebanon, Mali, South Sudan, and the Western Sahara. 

In a message to mark the Day, the Secretary-General said of the fallen peacekeepers: “Their service and sacrifices will never be forgotten.”  He further said: “I express my deep gratitude to the 85,000 civilian, police and military personnel currently deployed in some of the world’s most challenging hotspots to protect the vulnerable and help to build peace. Despite the restrictions imposed by the pandemic, as well as the risk of infection, these men and women have pursued their mission while also supporting local authorities in the fight against COVID-19. I offer sincere condolences to the families of peacekeepers who have fallen victim to this terrible disease.”

The theme for this year’s observance is “The road to a lasting peace: Leveraging the power of youth for peace and security.” Tens of thousands of young peacekeepers deployed around the world play a key role in helping UN missions implement their mandated activities, with the active participation of young people from host communities.  Across our missions, peacekeepers collaborate with youth to reduce violence and sustain peace, including through DDR and Community violence reduction programmes.

Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, said: “We salute the dedication and bravery of our peacekeepers, who serve and perform admirably in challenging environments only compounded by the ongoing pandemic. I also honor our young peacekeepers who bring energy and innovation, and serve as role models to youth populations working tirelessly to ensure meaningful representation and participation in political processes.”  He added: “Our peacekeepers deserve our full support, and we must continue to work together to do all we can to improve their safety and security and give them the tools to succeed.”

During the HQ ceremony, the Secretary-General will also award the ‘2020 Military Gender Advocate of the Year Award’ to Major Steplyne Buyaki Nyaboga a Kenyan military officer who served with the African Union – United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur, (UNAMID). Created in 2016, the Award “recognises the dedication and effort of an individual peacekeeper in promoting the principles of UN Security Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security.”

The International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers was established by the General Assembly in 2002, to pay tribute to all men and women serving in peacekeeping, and to honour the memory of those who have lost their lives in the cause of peace. The General Assembly designated 29 May as the International Day of UN Peacekeepers in commemoration of the day in 1948 when the UN’s first peacekeeping mission, the UN Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO), began operations in Palestine.

Since then, more than 1 million women and men have served in 72 UN peacekeeping operations, directly impacting millions of people, and saving countless lives. Today, UN Peacekeeping deploys more than 89,000 military, police and civilian personnel in 12 operations.

   

Vote today on whether Palestine will become a full member of the United Nations



International Desk, Barta24.com
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A vote will be held today in the Security Council, the most powerful body of the UN on whether to recommend Palestine's name for full membership. Voting will take place on Friday at 3pm New York local time.

This information was reported by the Reuters news agency on Thursday (April 18).

According to the report, according to the UN Charter, if a country wants to become a member of this organization, it must first obtain the recommendation of the Security Council in favor of the application. The UN General Assembly will only consider granting the country membership if that recommendation is attached to the application.

Palestine can win the Security Council's recommendation if at least 9 members of the Security Council vote in favor in Friday's vote, and if none of the five permanent members — the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia and China — veto the resolution.

It should be noted that in a briefing after the meeting of the Security Council on April 8, Malta's UN Ambassador Vanessa Frazier said that the Security Council will decide on the recommendation for Palestine for full membership of the United Nations this April.

Earlier, Reuters reported that on Wednesday, non-permanent member state Algeria presented a draft proposal for a vote on the recommendation of Palestine's full membership. Later in Thursday's meeting, the polling day was fixed. Ministers and ambassadors of various Middle Eastern countries were present in the meeting.

Incidentally, after many years of lobbying for full membership, Palestine was allowed to enter the United Nations as an 'observer' in 2011. Countries or territories in this category may participate in discussions in the UN General Assembly, but they do not have the power to vote for or against any resolution raised.

Palestine wants an independent state comprising the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem. But these 3 territories are controlled by Israel since 1967.

In the peaceful two-state solution, the Security Council has been supporting and promoting the formation of two independent and sovereign states in the Al-Aqsa region of the Middle East in the past few decades, namely "Palestine" and "Israel". In 1990, representatives of Palestine and Israel signed a document on this issue in Oslo, the capital of Norway.

Palestine has resumed its bid for full membership after the Israeli military operation in Gaza began on October 7, and a crucial phase of the bid will conclude on Friday with a Security Council vote. 

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Israel's propaganda to escalate war in the Middle East



International Desk, Barta24.com
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Tel Aviv-based KAN News claimed that Saudi Arabia and Jordan participated in a defense alliance with Israel to prevent Iran's attack. However, both countries denied this claim. Political analysts think that Israel has involved the name of Saudi-Jordan with the intention of spreading war in the Middle East.

On Tuesday (April 16), the country's state-owned newspaper Al-Arabia reported that Saudi Arabia was not involved in preventing Iran's attack on Israeli territory last Saturday (April 13) night, according to a source close to the Saudi government. Jordan also claimed the same.

According to the report of Arab News, the news published a day ago by the Israeli media, citing a Saudi Arabian official website, said that Saudi Arabia has participated in a defense alliance to protect Israel from an attack by Iran. But Saudi Arabia's state sources have denied this information.

Earlier, the website said, Saudi Arabia has cooperated with a military coalition consisting of Israel, the United States, Jordan, the United Kingdom and France, in addition to using its own air defense systems to destroy drones and missiles fired by Iran.

The reason behind the cooperation, according to the report, is that Saudi Arabia believes that Iran has been planning to take advantage of the conflict in Gaza since the start of the conflict and that the recent attacks carried out by Tehran are part of that plan.

Several Saudi sources told Al-Arabiya that the website citing Saudi participation in preventing attacks by Iran against Israel does not actually exist in Saudi Arabia.

Meanwhile, Amman-based military analyst Mahmoud Ridasad said about the happy news in the Israeli media that Jordan had helped; it is nothing but Israeli propaganda.

It should be noted that on April 13, Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) fired hundreds of drones and missiles at Israeli territory. Before that, on April 1, Israel attacked the Iranian consulate building in Damascus, the capital of Syria. Several military officers including Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, the senior commander of Quds Force, the elite wing of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, were killed in the attack.

Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said the Middle East cannot afford another war. So alleviating the tension here will be everyone's priority.

He said these things in a press conference on Tuesday (April 16) on the eve of his visit to Islamabad.

Meanwhile, Israel's Western allies, including France, Germany, and Britain, have asked for restraint, but Israel's army chief Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi has vowed to respond to Iran's attack.

And Iran says that any attack on them will be met with a terrible response. The country's deputy foreign minister, Ali Bagheri Kani, said the response would be within seconds. In this case, Iran will use weapons that have never been used before.

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Bus fell from flyover in India killing 5 people



International Desk, Barta24.com
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A passenger bus fell off a flyover after losing control in the Indian state of Odisha. Five people were killed and about 40 were injured. Among the dead are four men and one woman.

On Monday (April 15), the Indian media Hindustan Times reported this information.

According to the report, the accident took place near Barbati in Jajpur district on the way from Puri to Kolkata at around 9 pm on Monday (April 15). The bus fell down when the driver lost control while climbing a flyover on National Highway-16.

In the initial investigation, the police found out that there were about 50 passengers in the bus. On receiving the information, a team of police and fire brigade reached the Barbati Bridge and started the rescue operation. The injured were sent to the local Dharamshala Hospital in 10 ambulances. The seriously injured have been sent to SCB Medical College Hospital, Cuttack.



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Iran has summoned the Ambassadors of the three countries



International Desk, Barta24.com, Dhaka
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Iran's Foreign Ministry has summoned UK, German and French ambassadors. The director general of the country's Western Europe department summoned them.

Sunday (April 14) in a report of the Iranian news agency IRNA.

According to reports, the Director General of Iran's Western Europe Department informed British Ambassador Simon Shercliffe, German Ambassador Hans-Udo Muzel and French Ambassador Nicolas Roche on Sunday about the attack on Israel's military base in accordance with Article 51 of the United Nations.

The Director-General strongly condemned the attack on the Iranian consulate compound in the Syrian capital, Damascus, and criticized the three countries' "duplicitous behavior".

He also said that Iran is always ready against any force to protect its sovereignty, territorial integrity and national interests.

The ambassadors of the UK, Germany and France said that they will soon deliver this message to the capital of their country.

It should be noted that on April 1, 13 people were killed in an Israeli attack on the premises of the Iranian consulate in Damascus, the capital of Syria. In response to this, Iran attacked Israel with more than 300 drones and missiles on Saturday.

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