A United Nations Medal is an international decoration awarded by the United Nations (UN) to the various world countries’ militaries for participation in joint international military and police operations such as peacekeeping, humanitarian efforts, and disaster relief.
Since 1955, many additional United Nations medals have been created and awarded for participation in various United Nations missions and actions around the world.
The most common United Nations medal is the standard UN decoration known simply as the United Nations Medal. Most countries bestow this award for any action in which a member of the military participated in a joint UN activity.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon Medal Design
In situations where a service member participated in multiple UN operations, service stars, campaign clasps, or award numbers are authorized as attachments to the United Nations Medal. These devices vary depending on the regulations of the various armed forces.
Most operations utilize a different ribbon for each mission, though there have been some notable exceptions. In some countries where the UN Security Council determines a mission in the same geographic region, but changes the mission mandate by way of Security Council Resolution, there may be a number of missions which have identical campaign ribbons and then later will change the ribbon to reflect the changing environment.
