By Aurélie Pugnet | Euractiv
Sep 23, 2024
“We have a shortfall which is higher than usual, and therefore the cash availability for our mission will be constrained this year,” Lacroix said about 2024. [EPA-EFE/STR]
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Despite strong backing from the UN General Assembly for well-funded peace and security operations, turning words into financial support remains challenging.
The Pact for the Future, adopted Sunday (22 September) by UN members, clearly states that “peace operations can only succeed when political solutions are actively pursued and they have predictable, adequate and sustained financing.”
However, the worldwide acknowledgment of the need for financial resources to continue peacekeeping operations and pay their staff and equipment follows another year of the UN struggling to make ends meet.
Despite UN members endorsing this non-binding declaration, the Pact is unlikely to spur a major change in the financial management of the operations and the UN’s budget in general.
Cash issues are a regular part of the UN’s struggles. Only earlier this spring, the organisation’s officials pressed for the budget gap to be filled, saying the UN ended last year with a “cash deficit of more than $400 million (€360 million).”
“There is currently a sort of cash crisis, particularly for peacekeeping, ” Jean-Pierre Lacroix, UN’s under-secretary-general for the peacekeeping operations, told reporters, including Euractiv, earlier this month.
“We have a shortfall which is higher than usual, and therefore, the cash availability for our mission will be constrained this year,” Lacroix said about 2024.
In addition, the peacekeeping chief suggested a contradiction between the political and security interests in maintaining the UN’s Blue Helmet operations and the lack of financial contributions.
“One thing we keep saying is that if [member states] give us a mandate, there has to be adequate financial resources for that,” Lacroix added, calling for “consistency” from member states.
The UN peacekeeping budget amounts to $6.1 billion (€5.9 billion) for 11 operations, according to official data. For the period from 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025, the UN members agreed to spend $5.7 billion (€5.1 billion).
But the money agreed to on paper does not always come into the UN’s coffins.
While the organisation’s budget depends on national contributions, UN members often pay their bills late – including the United States, the largest contributor, Geneva Solutions News reports.
“At the same time, we are aware that the public finances of our member states are under pressure – and most of the biggest financial contributors are under pressure,” Lacroix said.
UN mandates tend to be very long documents and broad in scope. UN officials have regularly said this reduces the impact that few understaffed and underfinanced Blue Helmet operations could have.
For this reason, Lacroix calls for operations’ mandates to be “focused” and with “realistic priorities.”
“We cannot do everything, so tasks must be prioritised.”
[Edited by Martina Monti]
Despite strong backing from the UN General Assembly for well-funded peace and security operations, turning words into financial support remains challenging.
The Pact for the Future, adopted Sunday (22 September) by UN members, clearly states that “peace operations can only succeed when political solutions are actively pursued and they have predictable, adequate and sustained financing.”
However, the worldwide acknowledgment of the need for financial resources to continue peacekeeping operations and pay their staff and equipment follows another year of the UN struggling to make ends meet.
Despite UN members endorsing this non-binding declaration, the Pact is unlikely to spur a major change in the financial management of the operations and the UN’s budget in general.
Cash issues are a regular part of the UN’s struggles. Only earlier this spring, the organisation’s officials pressed for the budget gap to be filled, saying the UN ended last year with a “cash deficit of more than $400 million (€360 million).”
“There is currently a sort of cash crisis, particularly for peacekeeping, ” Jean-Pierre Lacroix, UN’s under-secretary-general for the peacekeeping operations, told reporters, including Euractiv, earlier this month.
“We have a shortfall which is higher than usual, and therefore, the cash availability for our mission will be constrained this year,” Lacroix said about 2024.
In addition, the peacekeeping chief suggested a contradiction between the political and security interests in maintaining the UN’s Blue Helmet operations and the lack of financial contributions.
“One thing we keep saying is that if [member states] give us a mandate, there has to be adequate financial resources for that,” Lacroix added, calling for “consistency” from member states.
The UN peacekeeping budget amounts to $6.1 billion (€5.9 billion) for 11 operations, according to official data. For the period from 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025, the UN members agreed to spend $5.7 billion (€5.1 billion).
But the money agreed to on paper does not always come into the UN’s coffins.
While the organisation’s budget depends on national contributions, UN members often pay their bills late – including the United States, the largest contributor, Geneva Solutions News reports.
“At the same time, we are aware that the public finances of our member states are under pressure – and most of the biggest financial contributors are under pressure,” Lacroix said.
UN mandates tend to be very long documents and broad in scope. UN officials have regularly said this reduces the impact that few understaffed and underfinanced Blue Helmet operations could have.
For this reason, Lacroix calls for operations’ mandates to be “focused” and with “realistic priorities.”
“We cannot do everything, so tasks must be prioritised.”
[Edited by Martina Monti]
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