Australian PeaceKeepers / PeaceMakers Association

Have you heard of the Australian PeaceKeepers / PeaceMakers Association?

September 14th is a day set aside for all those who served in the Defence Forces under the banner of PeaceKeepers / PeaceMakers.

These are men and women, in active service, who endeavour to keep and enforce the peace between warring tribes or countries who under the authority of the United Nations, act as buffers in volatile situations. Working in warlike zones, they carry no weapons and can only watch if violence should erupt between two opposing forces.

They have been kidnapped, held as hostages and imprisoned.

Australian Peacekeepers/PeaceMakers have served in such countries as:

Indonesia, Kashmir, Korea, Israel, Congo, West New Guinea, Yemen, Cyprus, India/Pakistan Border, Sinai, Israel/Syria Border, Lebanon, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Iran, Thailand/Cambodia Border, Namibia, Afghanistan, Iraqi, Kurdistan, Western Sahara, Somalia, Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Mozambique, Bougainville, Haiti, Guatemala, Kosovo ,East Timor, Ethiopia/Eritrea, Solomon Islands, Sierra Leone, Sudan,and Darfur.

They serve in the capacity of: Military Observers, Truce Supervisors, Special Commissions, Humanitarian Aid, Demining and Training Teams and Medical Aid.

This organisation commenced in Indonesia on 14 September 1947, with four Australian Military officers becoming the first UN peacekeepers in the world. Since then 77,000 veterans have served in this capacity in 73 operations in 64 different countries.