75th Anniversary Of Australian Peacekeeping In The U.N.

THE HON ANDREW HASTIE MP
SHADOW MINISTER FOR DEFENCE
FEDERAL MEMBER FOR CANNING 

STATEMENT

14 September 2022

75TH ANNIVERSARY OF AUSTRALIAN PEACEKEEPING IN THE U.N.

Today we mark the 75th Anniversary of Australian Peacekeeping, marking three quarters of a century during which Australians contributed to international operations to uphold or secure peace.

Australian servicemen were part of the first group of United Nations military observers to go into the field anywhere in the world.

Four Australian military observers formed part of the United Nations Consular Commission which in 1947 observed the ceasefire between the Dutch government and Indonesian nationalist forces in what was then known as the Netherlands East Indies – now Indonesia.

Since 1947, Australian Peacekeepers have contributed to over sixty peacekeeping operations all over the world. From East Timor and the Solomon Islands in the Pacific to Mozambique and Rwanda in Africa. Our Peacekeepers have also served in the former Yugoslavia, Haiti, Cyprus, Afghanistan, Iraq, and across the Middle East.

Australia has been involved in a peacekeeping operation somewhere in the world every year since the first U.N. mission in 1947.

More than 66,000 Australians have served on peacekeeping operations in the past 75 years.

16 Australians have lost their lives on peacekeeping operations, and we remember them and their families today, as we honour the service of all Australian Peacekeepers.

 

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