UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan has urged the United Nations not to allow financial constraints and cost-cutting measures to weaken its peacekeeping operations, warning that reductions in resources could undermine the organisation’s ability to maintain international peace and security.
The warning comes as UN peacekeeping faces mounting financial and political pressures. The General Assembly has approved a $5.1 billion budget for peacekeeping operations for 2026-27, about 10 per cent lower than the previous year’s allocation. A funding crisis last year had already forced the organisation to reduce mission expenditure and repatriate a quarter of its uniformed personnel from peacekeeping operations.
Against this backdrop, Pakistan’s Permanent Representative, Ambassador Syed Haider Shah, called for reforms that improve the effectiveness of peacekeeping without sacrificing the capabilities needed to carry out its mandates.
“What is needed is the political will in the Security Council to use this important instrument when circumstances require,” he told the Fourth Committee of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly on Friday.
Pakistan is one of the largest and longest-serving contributors to UN peacekeeping. More than 170,000 Pakistani military and police personnel have served in UN missions over the past six decades, with 183 losing their lives. Pakistan also hosts the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP).
Ambassador Shah’s intervention comes at a time when peacekeeping operations are confronting not only financial difficulties but also increasingly complicated political and security environments. Growing reliance on regional arrangements and ad hoc operations, he argued, demonstrated that the need for a credible UN presence on the ground remained undiminished.
Welcoming the secretary-general’s review of peacekeeping operations, Pakistan outlined six priorities for reform: giving primacy to political solutions; ensuring focused and adequately resourced mandates; preserving the institutional strengths of peacekeeping; preparing for future military and police requirements; improving the safety and security of peacekeepers; and maintaining peacekeeping as a collective UN responsibility.
The central concern was the widening gap between the responsibilities assigned to peacekeeping missions and the resources made available to them.
Pakistan cautioned against allowing financial ceilings to determine operational requirements. Political objectives, Ambassador Shah argued, should first establish what a mission is expected to accomplish. Its mandate should then determine the personnel, equipment and financial resources required.
Peacekeeping missions can help stabilise conflict situations, protect civilians, sustain ceasefires and preserve space for negotiations. But these functions depend on political processes and adequate operational capabilities working together.
Pakistan also urged member states to preserve the distinctive advantages of UN peacekeeping, including its universal legitimacy, predictable financing, established command and logistics systems, and ability to draw personnel and specialised capabilities from across the UN membership.
“Efficiency and cost reduction must therefore strengthen peacekeeping, not hollow out the capabilities that give UN peacekeeping its unique value,” the ambassador said.
The protection of peacekeepers and accountability for crimes committed against them formed another major part of Pakistan’s intervention.
Pakistan, alongside Denmark, played a leading role in advancing UN Security Council Resolution 2823, which was unanimously adopted with a record 153 co-sponsors. The resolution seeks to strengthen accountability for crimes against UN peacekeepers, an issue Pakistan has repeatedly raised at the UN.
Welcoming the secretary-general’s first report on accountability for crimes against peacekeepers, Ambassador Shah also noted the appointment of Assistant Secretary-General Elizabeth Spehar as Senior Focal Point on the matter.
He called for the resolution’s effective implementation through stronger investigations and prosecutions, better tracking of cases and greater support for national capacities to ensure that those responsible for attacks on peacekeepers were brought to justice.
Pakistan also stressed the importance of the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations, known as C-34, describing it as the universal intergovernmental forum for collectively shaping peacekeeping policy.
The consensus achieved within the committee, together with the broad support for Resolution 2823, demonstrated that member states continued to regard peacekeeping as an important instrument of international cooperation.
Pakistan’s position was that reform should make peacekeeping more effective and adaptable to changing circumstances, rather than weaken the institution at a time when international conflicts and political divisions make its role increasingly important.
“Peacekeeping remains a vital, effective and cost-efficient means for ensuring peace and security. We will need this instrument again. We should ensure that it is ready when we do,” Ambassador Shah concluded.
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