Blue Helmets: Cambodia Marks Twenty Years of UN Peacekeeping
Thirty years ago, Cambodia hosted the blue helmets of UNTAC. Since 2006, it has been sending its own. On Saturday 24 October, in Kampong Speu, the government celebrated two decades of taking part in UN peace operations: 74 contingents, 10,914 military personnel, ten countries. The milestone comes as the UN cuts its forces and prepares to close its mission in Lebanon.
A ceremony in Kampong Speu
The ceremony took place at the Multinational Peacekeeping Training Centre in Kampong Speu province, presided over by Prime Minister Hun Manet. Vladanka Andreeva, the UN Resident Coordinator in Cambodia, attended. The anniversary coincided with the official opening of new facilities at the school, located in Phnom Sruoch district.
The Prime Minister presented the twenty years as a story of transformation. “Cambodia’s 20 years of participation in UN peacekeeping operations also mark the country’s transformation from a war-torn nation, once described as a killing field and an insecure region, into a new Cambodia that plays an important role in maintaining regional order and contributing to world peace,” he said, according to the state news agency AKP. He credited the Win-Win Policy, which ended the civil war.
It was not the first tribute from the UN official. When Hun Manet received her in March, Vladanka Andreeva had already praised Cambodia’s contribution to peace missions over the past two decades.
April 2006: the first departure
Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Tea Seiha recalled the founding date. On 12 April 2006, the 135th Mine Clearance Company, made up of 135 soldiers, left for Sudan. The Sudan Tribune reported at the time that Buddhist monks sprinkled holy water and flower petals on the troops before their departure for this first UN mission. Hun Sen, then Prime Minister, told them they were entering the country’s history as Cambodia’s very first UN peacekeepers.
The symbolism was strong. In the early 1990s, after the Paris Peace Agreements, it was the UN that sent forces to Cambodia, notably to organise the 1993 elections.
From a few hundred to almost 11,000
The build-up was gradual. At the end of 2013, Cambodia had 341 peacekeepers in the field, including 11 women, and ranked 43rd among contributing countries. By 2016, at the tenth anniversary, 3,557 soldiers had served in African missions. In 2019, the Defence Ministry counted 6,053, including 285 women. By early 2025, the total was nearing 10,000.
According to Tea Seiha, the figure now stands at 74 contingents and 10,914 military personnel, including 1,083 women, deployed to ten countries: Sudan, South Sudan, Chad, Lebanon, Cyprus, Syria, Mali, the Central African Republic, Yemen and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Le Petit Journal Cambodge counts twelve separate missions across those ten countries.
Phnom Penh’s motives are not purely altruistic. In a 2014 study, researcher Vannarith Chheang of the Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace found that the main driver was the government’s wish to improve the country’s image and standing on the international stage.
Deminers first
Cambodian peacekeepers have served in nine fields: mine clearance, military police, horizontal and vertical engineering, airfield engineering, Level 2 hospitals, explosive ordnance disposal, staff officers and military observers.
Demining remains their trademark. The country knows the subject. An official presentation in 2009 put the number of mines laid on Cambodian soil between 1970 and 1998 at 4 to 6 million. Experience gained at home has been taken abroad. The National Centre for Peacekeeping Forces, Mines and Explosive Remnants of War Clearance (NPMEC) handles both overseas deployments and demining inside the country.
Women in the ranks
With close to 10% women across all deployments, Cambodia stands out. At the end of 2022, UN figures ranked it 5th out of 78 troop-contributing countries for the share of women among its deployed peacekeepers. In 2024, UN Women described it as the leading contributor of women peacekeepers in ASEAN. It was also the first ASEAN member to study the barriers that keep women from deploying on these missions.
A human cost
These missions come at a price. After ten years of deployments, four Cambodian soldiers had been killed and five wounded. On Saturday, the ministry did not give an updated figure.
Fewer peacekeepers, and Lebanon winding down
Today, 475 Cambodian military personnel are serving in Sudan, South Sudan, Lebanon, the Central African Republic and the DRC. On 31 March 2025, there were 689, including 132 women, and Cambodia ranked 28th among contributors. That is a drop of more than 30% in eighteen months.
The decline comes amid a financial crisis at the UN. The United States, expected to pay 1.3 billion dollars, told the organisation it would pay only about 682 million for the 2025-2026 budget year. Missions were ordered to cut spending by 15%, which translates into a reduction of roughly 25% in uniformed and civilian personnel.
In Lebanon, the end date is set. Security Council Resolution 2790 extends UNIFIL’s mandate for a final time until 31 December 2026, followed by an orderly withdrawal within one year. The Cambodian contingent, present in southern Lebanon for more than a decade, will have to pack up. As early as 2014, it had 184 troops in UNIFIL.
Tea Seiha closed by saying Cambodia’s participation reflects its commitment to international cooperation and the protection of civilians. The next chapter will be decided in New York, with each budget and each mandate.
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