A wreath was layed at U.N. headquarters Thursday to mark the 60th anniversary of its peacekeeping operations. The world body has more than 100,000 troops from more than 120 countries working to keep the peace in 20 conflict zones.
星期四，联合国总部安放了一个花圈，纪念联合国维和使命实施60周年。联合国拥有来自120多个国家的十万以上的维和部队，负责在世界20个冲突地区的维和工作。
U.N. peacekeeping operations began in 1948 with the deployment of unarmed U.N. military observers in the Middle East to monitor the truce between Israel and its Arab neighbors.
联合国的维和使命始于1948年。当时，联合国派遣了不携带武器的军事观察员到中东地区，观察以色列与其阿拉伯邻国之间的停火。
Since that first mission, peacekeepers wearing the distinctive blue helmet of the United Nations have conducted 63 other missions.
从那以后，佩戴著非常有特色的蓝色贝雷帽的联合国维和部队，在全球各地总共执行了63次维和使命。
In 1988, U.N. peacekeepers won the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts.
在1988年，联合国维和人员荣获诺贝尔和平奖。
Jean-Marie Guéhenno, the U.N. chief of peacekeeping operations, says today his department is at its highest-ever levels of deployment.
联合国负责维和事务的副秘书长盖埃诺说，目前派出的维和人员比以往任何时候都要多。
"With 20 missions, 130,000 personnel authorized; 110,000 already deployed. That's enormous," he said.
他说，“目前正在进行的有20项维和使命，已经批准的维和人员为13万，其中11万已经被部署到各地， 人数非常多。”
The importance of U.N. peacekeeping can be seen in its budget, which has risen to more than $6.5 billion this year for missions in countries such as Sudan, Chad, Georgia, Haiti and Lebanon.
联合国维和部队的重要性可以从它的财政预算中看出来。今年，维和部队在苏丹、乍得、格鲁吉亚、海地、和黎巴嫩等国家的行动预算超过65亿美元。
More than 40 percent of all peacekeepers come from Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Nigeria and Nepal, while Japan and the United States are the largest financial contributors.
在维和部队当中，有40%以上的官兵来自巴基斯坦、孟加拉国、印度、尼日利亚和尼泊尔；而美国和日本是出资最多的两个国家。
But peacekeeping is dangerous work. Ninety peacekeepers lost their lives last year and more than 2,400 during the last six decades. On Wednesday, one more peacekeeper's name was added to that list, when a Ugandan peacekeeper was killed in the Darfur region of Sudan.
维和工作的危险性非常大。去年一年，就有九十名维和人员在执行任务的过程中丧生。在过去六十年里，总共有两千四百多名维和人员殉职。就在这个星期三，又有一名乌干达维和人员在苏丹达尔富尔地区被打死。
The U.N.'s peacekeeping department has also encountered other problems, notably, misconduct on the part of a small number of peacekeepers that has hurt their reputation.
联合国维和机构也遭遇到其它一些问题，比较突出的是一小部分维和人员行为不当，损害了整个维和部队的声誉。
This week, British charity Save the Children issued a report saying some peacekeepers and international aid workers have sexually abused young children in world trouble spots. Guéhenno says this is one of the challenges of peacekeeping.
总部设在英国的慈善组织[挽救儿童]这个星期发布报告指出，在世界各动乱地区，一些维和人员和国际救援人员对儿童进行了性侵犯。联合国维和任务负责人盖埃诺说，这是维和工作面临的挑战之一。
"That kind of report is never happy reading," he said. "But it's a very useful report, because it puts the light on one of the challenges we have when you rotate 200,000 people every year. How do you make sure you have the full picture? How do make sure misconduct is not under-reported? How do you make sure when there is misconduct it is effectively followed up?"
他说，“这种报告从来都让人感到不安。但是这类报告发挥著很重要的作用，它提醒我们每年轮换派遣二十万维和人员的过程中所遇到的各种挑战，包括如何掌握全局、保证错误行为及时曝光、而且及时进行处理，等等。”
Guéhenno says his department is working vigilantly to improve mechanisms for reporting instances of misconduct and to educate peacekeepers, but concedes more needs to be done.
盖埃诺说，他的部门正在努力改进揭发维和人员违法乱纪行为和加强对维和人员进行教育的机制，但是他承认，需要做的事还很多。
As the United Nations marks the 60th anniversary of its role as international peacekeeper, the 15-member Security Council is about to go to Africa, where it will visit peacekeeping missions it has authorized in Chad, Sudan's Darfur region, the Congo and the Ivory Coast.
在联合国维和部队成立六十周年之际，联合国安理会十五个成员国正准备派代表团前往非洲去，检查在乍得、苏丹达尔富尔地区以及刚果和科特迪瓦等地的维和工作。 |