Pakistan calls for strategic reform, not budget cuts, to shield UN peacekeeping

Ambassador Syed Haider Shah says it had to be approached with strategic purpose to preserve UN’s operational capacity

With UN peacekeeping under pressure, Pakistan emphasised that this flagship activity of the world body remained a vital and cost-effective tool for global security that must be protected from geopolitical divisions and supported through strategic reforms rather than weakened by funding cuts.

“Peacekeeping remains an indispensable, effective, and cost-efficient tool for maintaining international peace and security,” Ambassador Syed Haider Shah, Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN, told the General Assembly’s Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonisation), which began its consideration of peacekeeping operations on Friday.

While reform was needed, the Pakistani envoy said it had to be approached with a strategic purpose to preserve the UN’s operational capacity. The UN, he added, must retain the capability to deploy a credible international presence whenever future ceasefires, political settlements or emerging crises demand it.

Opening the debate, Mohamed Khaled Khiari, Assistant Secretary-General in the Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations, said, “Every day, our peacekeepers keep dialogue alive and stand between civilians and violence, far from home and at great personal risk. They have kept faith with us. Let us keep faith with them.”

Stressing that peacekeeping had to be adequately resourced to ensure civilian protection, Khiari called on states to pay their contributions in full. Missions had been forced to reduce expenditure by 15 per cent, repatriating 13,296 troops and 1,212 police personnel.

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While support for peacekeeping remained broad, “consistent political backing is harder to secure”, the UN official said. Despite these challenges, UN peacekeeping missions continued to protect vulnerable people and defend peace, he added.

In his remarks, Ambassador Shah reaffirmed Pakistan’s longstanding commitment to UN peacekeeping as a major troop-contributing country and a host state.

He pointed out that more than 170,000 Pakistani peacekeepers had served under the UN flag, with 183 making the ultimate sacrifice. Pakistan was also host to the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP), which monitors the Line of Control in disputed Jammu and Kashmir.

With peacekeeping facing mounting political, operational and financial pressures, Ambassador Shah underscored that its relevance remained undiminished. The growing resort to regional arrangements and ad hoc operations, he said, highlighted the continuing need for a credible UN peacekeeping presence on the ground.

“What is needed is the political will in the Security Council to use this important instrument when circumstances require,” he stated.

In this regard, the Pakistani envoy called for reinforcing the primacy of political solutions; ensuring focused mandates matched with adequate resources; preserving peacekeeping’s distinctive institutional strengths; preparing for future military and police requirements; strengthening the safety and security of peacekeepers and accountability for crimes against them; and maintaining peacekeeping as a genuinely collective UN instrument.

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Political processes and peacekeeping should reinforce one another, with missions helping to stabilise environments, protect civilians, sustain ceasefires and preserve space for negotiations, Ambassador Shah said.

Regarding mandate rationalisation, he warned against allowing financial ceilings to dictate operational requirements, stressing that political objectives should determine mandates.

Ambassador Shah also highlighted the need to preserve peacekeeping’s comparative advantages, including universal legitimacy, predictable financing, established command and logistics systems, and the ability to mobilise 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,” he stressed.

On the protection of peacekeepers, Ambassador Shah highlighted Pakistan’s leadership, alongside Denmark, in advancing Security Council Resolution 2823, which was unanimously adopted with a record 153 co-sponsors.

Peacekeeping, he said, remained a cost-effective and vital mechanism for maintaining international peace and security, adding that it should be built upon and strengthened rather than undermined.