UNITED NATIONS



The cost of international peace




When a region presents a conflict, the United Nations (UN) Security Council authorises peaceful and/or coercive measures to intervene such as conflict prevention, peacemaking, peacekeeping, peace enforcement, and peacebuilding. Usually, a UN Peacekeeping Operation (PKO) is designed when the fight has ended to preserve peace and implement agreements between the parties in conflict.



The United Nations has around 8 billion dollars every year for peacekeeping operations. This year, the Security Council approved 15 missions and the General Assembly established a budget of $8.27 billion. However, as of 30 June 2015, Member States owed approximately $1.6 billion in peacekeeping dues.



By Maria Crosas. Pictures: United Nations Photos

Any member can ask for an intervention


Who can deploy a Peacekeeping Operation?


The Security Council —formed by 15 members and five of them veto-wielding Permanent Members (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States)— determines the existence of a threat to the peace and recommends what, when and where an action should be taken. In order to pass a resolution, nine votes -and none of the Permanent Members voting against- are required.


How does it work?


When there is a crisis between countries, either a member of the Security Council or the Secretary-General can ask for a debate. If there is a risk to the international peace, the Security Council will ask the Secretary-General to analyse the overall security, political, humanitarian, and military situation and the future implications of the mission through a report called the Technical Assessment Mission (TAM). From this document, the Security Council will authorise the deployment of a PKO by a resolution form and will write a mandate with the tasks and objectives of the mission.


See the scheme of the process below:

CountrySecurity CouncilGeneral AssemblySecurity Council1PreventionConflict prevention2ConflictPeacemakingPeace enforcement3CeasefirePeacekeepingPost conflict peacebuilding

Only 15 members approve the resolution


João Maurício has more than eight years of experience in peace operations. Currently, he is the Deputy Operations Officer in the Brazilian Engineering Company in the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti. He explains that decisions of approving -or not- PKOs are political since 10 shifting members and 5 veto members at the Security Council decide whether to participate or not in a specific region: "Going through the history, you will see resolutions that didn't pass because one or two Permanent Member didn't want it".


Eduarda Hamann, the coordinator of the Peacebuilding programme at the Instituto Igarapé in Brazil, says that PKOs work in the middle of a "huge competition of political power". There is a big division between the countries that create the mandates, those who pay for the mandates and those who implement them. This represents 20-30 countries out of 193 members while the Secretary General receives demands from all the members: "It is not an easy math".


João also goes through the lasts budgets to explain how missions in Haiti and Liberia are being downsized because new missions such as in Mali and Central Africa Republic are demanding more money. Use the graphic below to see the number of missions since 2006 and their budget:



Missions that started after 2006 or ended before 2016 show a shorter line. Download here (xls) the data (there is not data for the 2014/15 budget). Read the missions description here.

Establishing the rules of the mission


The United Nations needs the consent of the parties to the conflict in order to deploy a PKO. Otherwise, it is categorised as a peace enforcement mission. If the host country agrees to the UN presence, and the Security Council approves the deployment of a mission, the actors involved establish either a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) [pdf] or a Status of Mission Agreement (SOMA) for missions with unarmed personnel only.


With this resolution, the Security Council asks which members want to assist the mission. This decision is, again, political. Countries will choose to participate -or not- depending on the relationship with the host country. If they agree, personnel, equipment, and services are provided voluntarily by the country and established on the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).


There are two models: traditional missions, that help to manage a conflict, and multidimensional missions, after a peace agreement has been agreed. João Maurício explains that UN PKOs experienced a change when conflicts extrapolate the military area and the presence of other actors (police and civilians) started to increase.

Managing the conflict during the Cold War


Traditional missions aimed to observe the ceasefire and separation of forces during the Cold War. They assist by negotiation, persuasion and verification of the situation without playing a role in political efforts. Some examples are the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) or the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO). This last one was established in 1991 and monitors the ceasefire and risks (see the pictures below) while the country waits for a referendum.


minurso minurso

First picture: Antonio Achille during a ceasefire monitoring patrol. Second picture: Team conducting a ceasefire monitoring patrol.

Flickr: United Nations Photo

Keeping the peace agreement after the conflict


Multidimensional missions have been the most common form of PKO after the Cold War. Once the traditional operation is over and there is a peace agreement, even if it's fragile, military, civilian, and police forces assist to a secure environment while working with national authorities. Some examples are the former United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC), now MONUSCO, or the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH).


João Maurício volunteered as a peacekeeper, as his father, to be part of a huge group helping other people: "It's meeting people from other countries, assisting the local population and seeing their faces when you are helping them." Since he came in 2009, the country has improved a lot, for instance with the airport. At the beginning, they only had one or two flights, but now they are flying to Miami, New York or Cuba:


Paying more without stepping on the battlefield


Even though the Security Council defines the size and the mandate of the mission, the General Assembly is the one who approves the budget and resources of it.


At the end of June each year, it collects the approved resolutions and establishes the budget that will start the first day of July. According to the Article 17 of the Charter of the United Nations, every Member State is legally obligated to pay their respective share towards peacekeeping missions depending on their Gross National Product (GNP), the external debt or low per capita incomes, among others.


For the fiscal year 2015/16, the General Assembly approved a $8.27 billion budget [pdf] for UN Peacekeeping Operations. Use the graphic below to see the current budget distributed by the 15 missions:



Download here (xls) the data. Read the missions description here.

The United States pays a quarter of the international peace


The 5 permanent members are required to pay a larger share because of their duty to keep the international peace and security. The top 5 contributors are the United States of America, Japan, France, Germany; and the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland. Use the graphic below to see the apportion by country of the current budget:


While Bangladesh is the first contributor with personnel


As mentioned above, staff and equipment are provided voluntarily by the Member States but the United Nations reimburses the money to pay the troops. This could explain why Bangladesh is on the top contributors. João says that it is a way to keep their army.


For the current 15 PKOs, 123 members out of 193 have provided a total amount of 107,088 personnel as a form of police, UN Military Experts on Mission (UNMEM) and Troops. Bangladesh is the country that contributes the most with 1,172 police, 69 UNMEM and 7,255 troops. Use the graph below to see the top 10 contributors:

Download here (xls) the data of the voluntary contribution per countries.







Sources


United Nations Peacekeeping Operations website, United Nations Data, João Maurício,Deputy Operations Officer in the Brazilian Engineering Company in the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti, Eduarda Hamann, coordinator of the Peacebuilding programme at the Instituto Igarapé in Brazil, Alexandra Buskie, Policy and Advocacy Manager at the United Nations Association in the UK and Core Pre-deployment Training Materials from the Peace Operations Training (POTI).


Missions


MINURSO, United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara; MINUSCA, United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic; MINUSMA, United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali; MINUSTAH, United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti; MONUSCO, United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; UNAMID, African UnionUnited Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur; UNDOF, United Nations Disengagement Observer Force; UNFICYP, United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus; UNIFIL, United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon; UNISFA, United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei; UNLB, United Nations Logistics Base at Brindisi, Italy; UNMIK, United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo; UNMIL, United Nations Mission in Liberia; UNMISS, United Nations Mission in South Sudan; UNOCI, United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire; UNSOA, United Nations Support Office for the African Union Mission in Somalia.