THE UNITED NATIONS MEDAL (UNMIH)

Obverse: The United Nations global projection emblem, above which are the letters "UN".

Reverse: Plain, with the legend "IN THE SERVICE OF PEACE".

Size: 35mm in diameter.

Ribbon: 35mm wide, the ribbon for this medal has, from the left, an 8mm light blue stripe, a 1.5mm white stripe, an 8mm dark blue stripe, an 8mm red stripe, a 1.5mm white stripe, and an 8mm light blue stripe. Ninety days of service in the Mission was necessary to qualify for award of the medal.

Suspension: The ribbon is threaded through a 12mm diameter ring, which passes through a loop fixed to the top of the piece. The ring will move forwards and backwards.

United Nations Mission in Haiti, 20 September 1994 to 31 March 1995. International sanctions against Haiti following a military coup on 19 September 1991 led to the signing of a peace accord, and UNMIH was formed to oversee this. UNMIH was originally established by Security Council resolution 867 of 23 September 1993 to help implement certain provisions of the Governors Island Agreement signed by the Haitian parties on 3 July 1993. In 1993, its mandate was to assist in modernizing the armed forces of Haiti and establishing a new police force. UNMIH was not able to implement the mandate at that time due to the non-cooperation of the Haitian military authorities.

Later, the Security Council, by its resolution 940 of 31 July 1994, approved the establishment of an advance team of UNMIH to institute the appropriate means of coordination with the multinational force, to carry out the monitoring of the operations of the force, to assess requirements and to prepare for the deployment of UNMIH upon completion of the mission of the multinational force. The Mission terminated in June 1996.

New Zealand contributed military observers to the force.

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