United Nations – 75th anniversary of the Blue Helmets and peacekeeping operations (29 May 2023)

Today, 29 May 2023, we celebrate the 75th anniversary of the creation of the Blue Helmets and the United Nations Organization’s peacekeeping operations. More than 87,000 personnel, including 76,000 in uniform, are currently serving in 12 peacekeeping missions around the world.

Since 1948, the date of the UN’s first operation, more than two million Blue Helmets from every country in the world have been deployed in the service of international peace and security, in accordance with the aims and principles of the Charter of the United Nations.

France pays tribute to the Blue Helmets for their dedication – often at risk to their lives – to peacekeeping and protecting civilians.

As a permanent member of the Security Council, France takes on its full share of peacekeeping operations. As the sixth-largest contributor to the peacekeeping budget, France is committed, with nearly 700 French soldiers deployed on the ground and tens of thousands of French-speaking Blue Helmets trained every year.

In the face of the new challenges which face peacekeeping operations, France supports the United Nations Secretary-General’s action under the Action for Peacekeeping+ initiative, and has made 20 ambitious proposals under the New Agenda for Peace and with a view to the Summit of the Future. France emphasizes the full importance of the Women, Peace and Security agenda, which promotes the increased participation of women in peacekeeping.

Among these proposals, France supports an enlargement of the Security Council and a regulation of the veto in cases of mass atrocities.

Since discussions on the issue began, France has supported the principle of African peace operations co-funded by the United Nations.