Tessy Antony de Nassau, a former UN peacekeeper, released a video statement yesterday in honour of National Peacekeeping Day 2020.
In her role as patron of UNA-UK, Tessy recorded a short video to mark the occasion.
She first spoke about the COVID-19 pandemic and how it’s disrupted everyone’s lives across the globe, as well as institutions like UNA-UK. The epidemic prevented the yearly conference from taking place; this year’s theme was set to be “UN Peacekeeping and Peacekeeping in 2020 and Beyond.” Planned discussions for the meeting included the pitfalls of peacekeeping and how to make UN peacekeeping stronger.
“It is, of course, important to worth with each other during times of peace but also times of crisis such as the ones we are experiencing right now because of corona. So, it is important to know that UNA-UN, despite the crisis and despite us [needing] to cancel the conference, we are still working hard in the background and are still pushing strongly to bring you and peacekeeping back on the agenda of our policymakers, our politicians, and in the public domain,” Tessy said.
She added that the support of those watching is crucial and expressed UNA-UK and her appreciation for any help people can provide – donation, time, or feedback.
Her full message can be watched below:
Tessy has been the patron of UNA-UK for almost four years. She served as a UN Peacekeeper in Kosovo in 2004 and received the United Nations Medal of Recognition for her work. Tessy was the only woman on her team.
The International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers has been celebrated on 29 May each year since 1948.
UN peacekeepers are military forces that are voluntarily contributed by member states of the UN.
