Two Nepali peacekeepers to be honored posthumously with Dag Hammarskjöld Medal

KATHMANDU: Two Nepali peacekeepers who lost their lives while serving in United Nations missions abroad will be honoured posthumously with the prestigious Dag Hammarskjöld Medal.

According to the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office in Lalitpur, the medals will be awarded during a ceremony at the UN Headquarters on June 5, where UN Secretary-General António Guterres will pay tribute to peacekeepers serving around the world and honour those who have died in the line of duty.

The two Nepali recipients are Suraj Lamichhane, a corporal who died while serving in the Central African Republic in 2025, and Debi Ram Jaisi, a private who passed away while deployed in Timor-Leste in 2000.

The Secretary-General will award the Dag Hammarskjöld Medal posthumously to 68 military, police and civilian peacekeepers who lost their lives in service, including 59 who died last year.

The UN said more than 50,000 civilian, military and police personnel are currently serving under the UN flag in some of the world’s most challenging conflict zones. A total of 118 countries contribute uniformed personnel to 11 peacekeeping missions worldwide.

Nepal is the largest contributor of uniformed personnel to UN peacekeeping operations. The country currently deploys more than 4,300 military and police personnel, including 364 women, across missions in Abyei, the Central African Republic, Cyprus, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kosovo, Lebanon, Libya, the Middle East, Somalia, South Sudan and Western Sahara.