Petition calls for greater recognition for peacekeepers - ABC Online

Updated November 08, 2012 12:41:50

The Australian War Memorial in Canberra is under growing pressure to add the names of fallen peacekeepers to its Roll of Honour.

The War Memorial Council decides who is eligible to be named on the Roll of Honour which commemorates Australia's war dead.

Fallen peacekeepers who did not die in conflict are currently not included but they are named in a remembrance book.

Avril Clark from Perth heads a campaign calling for peacekeepers to be added to the roll.

Her son Jamie Clark died in 2005 while serving as a peacekeeper in the Solomon Islands.

"He along with 47 other Defence personnel, are not getting what I call equality in recognition," she said.

"We want that recognition that regardless of what country he lost his life in, what role he had, he still lost his life serving his country."

Canberra's Sarah McCathy is also calling for greater recognition.

Her father Peter McCarthy died in Lebanon in 1998 while serving as a peacekeeper.

"The sheer fact he's in a book and not on a wall that's called the Roll of Honour baffles me," she said.

The woman have taken their concerns and a petition with more than 17,000 signatures to the War Memorial Council which has the power to change the policy.

The council is expected to consider the matter at meeting next week.

Topics: history, canberra-2600, act, perth-6000

First posted November 08, 2012 12:25:09