Miho Hirose, a Japanese civilian, was among the 117 fallen peacekeepers honored in memoriam Wednesday at an annual ceremony at the United Nations headquarters in New York.

As an officer on a U.N. peacekeeping operation mission in Central African Republic, Hirose died last June after contracting malaria, according to U.N. officials. She was included in the total count of military, civilian and police personnel who lost their lives while working in 16 peacekeeping operations last year.

She is also the first Japanese woman to die while on peacekeeping duty, according to the United Nations, and was working in the western city of Bouar in Central African Republic.

A work colleague who had been under her supervision confirmed that Hirose joined the mission in July 2015 and was taking a holiday in Japan when she died of malaria on June 10 last year.

Hirose had previously served in posts in Mali, Eritrea, Senegal, Sudan, Afghanistan and East Timor. The United Nations has released only limited information about Hirose at the request of her family.

U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres laid a wreath and led a moment of silence at the somber ceremony attended by a large crowd of U.N. diplomats and military personnel who gathered under sunny skies.

"Today we remember not only our uniformed personnel, but civilian peacekeepers who have fallen -- international civil servants, national staff members and U.N. volunteers," he said. "Our missions could not function without their work, and we honor their sacrifice."

In addition to expressing condolences to the families and friends of those who died -- which now collectively totals more than 3,500 since 1948 -- Guterres also paid tribute to their lasting contributions.

"Our mission for peace will never succeed without courageous people willing to put their lives on the line," he said.

Following the event, Guterres, as well as U.N. peacekeeping head Jean-Pierre Lacroix and other officials, attended a ceremony to award the fallen peacekeepers a medal named in memory of the second secretary general, Dag Hammarskjold, who died in a plane crash in Africa while trying to broker a peace agreement in 1961.

Hirose's name was read aloud along with the 22 other civilians from countries such as Kenya, Macedonia, Afghanistan, Bhutan and beyond who perished while carrying out their duties in the various missions.

"Certainly we have (an) immense sense of solidarity and gratitude for the sacrifice of this very gallant person and we, of course, express our deepest condolences to the family and we share their grief," said Lacroix when asked by Kyodo News about her.

The undersecretary general also stressed the importance on the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers to recognize Japan's contributions for peacekeeping where efforts in Cambodia, East Timor, Haiti and most recently in South Sudan "have been exceptional and we are certain that we will continue to count on the support and help of Japan for the years to come."

So far, a total of five Japanese men have died in peacekeeping missions including U.N. volunteer Atsuhito Nakata and civilian police officer Haruyuki Takata, who were killed in 1993 in Cambodia.

Among other victims, Yutaka Akino, a civil affairs officer in Tajikistan, was killed by an Islamic group in 1998.

The international day for peacekeepers was established by the U.N. General Assembly in 2002 and was designated on May 29 to mark the first peacekeeping operation that began in Palestine in 1948. As the date in 2017 falls on a U.N. holiday, the New York headquarters observed the occasion on Wednesday.