New York, 28 May 2022 (TDI)： António Guterres, the secretary-general of the United Nations (UN), handed the Dag Hammarskjöld Medal to Omar Hilale, Morocco’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations on Friday.
The medal aims to pay tribute to two fallen Moroccan peacekeepers, the late Lieutenant Mohamed Zerrik and the late Sergeant Rachid Marchich. The two Moroccan blue helmets contributed their lives to the peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA).
This tribute is a recognition of the sacrifice, courage, selflessness, and high sense of responsibility of the Moroccan peacekeepers. Morocco has long been a strong supporter of United Nations peacekeeping operations for more than 60 years.
Morocco’s Work in UN Peace Keeping Operations
During the last 60 years, Morocco has participated in more than 14 UN Peace Keeping Operations (PKO). Near 80,000 peacekeepers from Morocco have worked for UN Peace Keeping Operations, especially in Africa.
Moreover, Morocco had also established 17 military field hospitals in 14 countries, providing more than 2.65 million medical services to local people and refugees. Currently, in 2022, more than 1,700 soldiers and police from Morocco are operating peacekeeping tasks in the Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, and South Sudan.
In April 2022, the Diplomatic Courier’s Good Country Index ranked Morocco as the first contributor to international peace and security. This ranking is based on the country’s contribution to peacekeeping operations and the UN peacekeeping budget.
Also, the raking takes a nation’s efforts to address cybersecurity and refrain from exporting weapons into consideration. Therefore, the shows that Morocco has contributed a lot to global security comprehensively.
Morocco, A Country Calls for Global Peace
Participating in the UN peacekeeping mission is one of the diversified ways that Morocco takes to call for global peace.
On January 19, 2021, at the first plenary meeting of the 2021 UN Conference on Disarmament, Morocco emphasized the nation’s commitment to global peace and security. Meanwhile, Omar Hilale, Moroccan permanent representative to the UN Office introduced Morocco’s contributions to global disarmament during the meeting.
To sum up, Morocco is a regional leader in disarmament, counter-terrorism, and crisis management of conflicts. Thus, Morocco’s contribution won the country a great reputation in the above fields. Nowadays, Morocco is still comprehensively working on promoting global peace and security.
