The Evolution of UN Peacekeeping(1): Hybrid Missions TIMO PELZ& VOLKER LEHMANN November 2007 Summary The planned UN-AU hybrid peacekeeping operation in Darfur(UNAMID) will be the largest UN peacekeeping operation ever. Whereas UNAMID’s success will largely depend on the political circumstances on the ground, its evolution also demonstrates how the UN tries to muster its limited resources in response to an increasing need for peace operations. Quantitative Expansion Although the Charter of the United Nations does not have provisions for peacekeeping operations(PKOs) 1 , peacekeeping evolved into one of the UN’s primary tasks. After the end of the Cold War, intrastate conflicts gave rise to an increasing number of PKOs. And while this trend had been interrupted in the mid 1990s by the failures of peacekeeping missions in Rwanda and the Balkans, current UN peacekeeping has reached an unprecedented level(see Table 1). Today the UN commands the second largest number of deployed troops in the world after the United States. Being in charge of over more than 83000 uniformed personnel from 117 countries, the UN peacekeeping system is strained by various asymmetries. To begin with, 75 percent of the soldiers are deployed in Africa, whereas three South Asian nations(Pakistan, India and Bangladesh) account for almost one third of the military personnel. More than half of the financial burden for PKOs is shouldered by the United States(26.7%), Japan(19.5%), and Germany(8.7%). PKOs suffer from UN member states’ lack of fulfilling their promises as countries stopped short of providing some 42000 already authorized troops in 2006. PKOs are furthermore stifled by the funding gap. While the annual UN peacekeeping budget has reached a record high of currently US$ 5.3 billion – almost twice as high 1 Neither Chapter VI(Pacific Settlement of Disputes), nor Chapter VII(Actions to Maintain International Peace and Security) were meant to justify the creation of PKOs or forces. as the regular UN budget- the outstanding contributions of member states to the peacekeeping budget have reached US$ 1.9 billion. Table 1: UN-led 2007)* Year Number of PKOs 1947 0 1948 1 1956 3 Peacekeeping Number of Troops 30 600 700 Missions(1947­Expenditures (US$ million) 0 4 9 1957 3 1960 3 1963 5 1970 3 1978 6 1982 5 1989 10 1992 15 1993 19 1995 18 1998 18 2004 18 6800 26200 12600 7200 16700 12500 17900 52200 78500 68900 14600 64720 26 76 127 24 202 141 635 1767 3059 3364 995 3645 2007 16 83,326 5290 *Numbers do not include peacebuilding or political missions Sources: Globalpolicyforum and DPKO. Finally, the increasing demand for UN peacekeeping puts a severe strain on the UN Secretariat’s Department of Peacekeeping Operations(DPKO), which is in the process of reform to better carry out its mission 2 . Qualitative Changes The first PKOs, the UN Truce Supervision Organization in Palestine(UNTSO) and the UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP), both authorized by the Security Council 2 See the FESNY Fact Sheet:“The Evolution of UN Peacekeeping(2): Reforming DPKO.”