Dag
Hjalmar Agne Carl Hammarskjöld was a Swedish diplomat and the second Secretary-General
of the United Nations. He had already considered himself a citizen of the world
before taking on this position, and he helped to strengthen the role of the United
Nations in international affairs, especially in looking after the interests of
smaller nations in relation to the major powers. He was a strong believer in peace
through international law and hoped to help spread the goals of the United Nations
Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights so that they would become
the values that guided all nations.
Dag
Hammarskjöld helped mediate many conflicts during his time as Secretary-General
and advocated for the creation of UN peace-keeping forces. During his second term
as Secretary-General, Dag Hammarskjold was killed under suspicious circumstances
as his plane crashed en-route to a peacekeeping mission in the Congo. Dag Hammarskjold
was posthumously awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his dedication to create "peace
and goodwill among nations and men." The Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation was
created in 1962 in Sweden in his honor to explore "workable alternatives
for a democratic, socially and economically just, ecologically sustainable, peaceful
and secure world in which human rights are genuinely respected." Many buildings
and schools around the world have been named in commemoration of this great peacemaker,
and the year he died, the United Nations Library was dedicated in his honor. A
park near the United Nations was named Dag Hammarskjold Plaza and the Dag Hammarskjöld
Medal is given by the United Nations "in recognition and commemoration of
those who have lost their life as a result of service in peacekeeping operations."
