The Evolution of UN Peacekeeping(2): Reforming DPKO TIMO PELZ& VOLKER LEHMANN November 2007 Summary The current increase in UN peacekeeping operations has strained the institutional capacities of the UN Secretariat. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s reform, which adds to the Department of Peacekeeping Operation a new Department of Field Support, is only the last in a series of changes of the UN peacekeeping architecture aiming to balance unity of command and division of labor. Origins of UN Peacekeeping Structure Initially the concept of peacekeeping operations was not part of the UN Charta. The institutional capacity within the UN Secretariat grew only in reaction to the necessity for UN involvement in maintaining peace. This was in part an evolutionary process and in part a consequence of a number of individuals who held key positions in crucial times. The institutional starting point of the UN’s structure for undertaking peacekeeping operations(PKOs) is the Military Staff Committee(MSC). Article 47 of the Charter stipulates that the MSC advises the Security Council(SC) on all questions related to the military requirements for maintaining international peace and security. Yet by 1948, when the UN established its first PKOs 1 , the Cold War confrontation among the permanent five members of the SC rendered the MSC defunct. Its responsibilities were displaced onto other organs of the UN, which were forced to undertake peacekeeping with insufficient structural or budgetary resources on an ad hoc basis. As for the secretariat, in 1953 the incoming SecretaryGeneral Dag Hammarskjöld appointed two“UnderSecretaries-General(USGs) without portfolio”, who were relabeled“USG for Special Political Affairs” in 1 These two missions, both of which still exist today, were the United Nations Truce Supervision Agency(UNTSO) in Israel/Palestine, established in 1948 and the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan(UNMOGIP), established in 1949. 1961. One post was first held by Ralph Bunche, and after his death in 1971 by Brian Urquhart. Urquhart oversaw the UN’s operations in the Middle East, which comprised almost all of the UN’s PKOs, and the office’s tasks included both field operations and mediation. When Urquhart was succeeded by Marrack Goulding in 1985, the office soon began to lose control over the increasingly disparate components of the peacekeeping business. At the end of the Cold War the nature of peacekeeping changed that required a break with the traditional way of peacekeeping. Whereas between 1948 and 1988 about half of all PKOs were deployed to internal armed conflicts, since 1998 this figure has risen to 90 percent. At the same time the UN also had to adjust to the everincreasing demand for peacekeeping. 2 When Boutros Boutros-Ghali took office as Secretary-General in 1992, one of his first decisions therefore was to rationalize peacekeeping by separating the political from the operational business. As a result, all political offices were bundled in a new branch, the Department of Political Affairs(DPA), whereas the old Office for Special Political Affairs was turned into a new Department of Peacekeeping Operations(DPKO). Headed by Marrack Goulding as the first USG for Peacekeeping(with Kofi Annan as his deputy), DPKO was further subdivided into two organizational areas: An Office of Operations, which dealt with the conduct of missions all over the world, and included regional divisions as well as a situation center in New York; and an Office of Mission Support, to help divisions with administration and logistics. Aside from these two main offices, DPKO featured a military and a police division as well as an integrated training service. 2 See Pelz and Lehmann:“The Evolution of UN Peacekeeping(1): Hybrid Missions”. FESNY Fact Sheet, November 2007.

The Evolution of UN Peacekeeping(2): Reforming DPKO FES New York Fact Sheet November 2007 Page 2 To maintain unity of command and proper Reform After the Brahimi Report integration of services, the new entity DSF and the In 1999, UN reports on the organization’s failures USG for Field Support will remain subordinated to during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and the 1995 the USG for Peacekeeping. The latter position will massacre in Srebrenica urged Kofi Annan(by now continue to be held by Jean-Marie Guéhenno, Secretary-General himself) to commission the Panel on DPKO’s head for the last seven years. Until a USG United Nations Peace Operations, chaired by USG for Field Support will be nominated, Assistant Lakhdar Brahimi. Its final document, 3 referred to as the Secretary-General Jane Holl Lute acts as officer in “Brahimi Report”, recommended a funding minimum charge. The new position of USG for Field Support and personnel requirements for UN peacekeeping will be subject of a review after one year, as will the missions. The Brahimi Report also initiated the creation budget of US$ 230.5 million for the entire UN of a Lessons Learned Unit, later to be succeeded by Secretariat peacekeeping structure. the Peacekeeping Best Practices Section(PBPS). Challenges Ahead A New Peacekeeping Architecture As the United Nations Integrated Mission in Timor When PKOs grew by almost 50 percent throughout(UNMIT) and the United Nations Interim Force in the summer of 2006, 4 DPKO’s resources were Lebanon(UNIFIL) are reaching full capacity and the stretched thin in particular within the Office of hybrid UN-African Union peacekeeping force in Operations. To accommodate the increase in the Darfur(UNAMID) is gearing up to become number and complexity of PKOs, incoming Secretaryoperational early 2008, a reformed DPKO/DSF will General Ban Ki-moon made DPKO reform a priority. have to hit the ground running to meet However, his first call for the re-structuring of the unprecedented challenges for the UN peacekeeping department and the establishment of a separate architecture. Department of Field Support(DFS), was rejected by the General Assembly(GA) in February 2007. • Cumbersome Coordination: The SG claims that Members from the Group of 77 contended that such the current reform does not split DPKO in two, reform had to proceed according to the established legislative procedures of the Organization. 5 but creates a new department with the necessary resources to accommodate better the increasing A compromise resolution was adopted in March 2007 6 and after the GA’s 5 th Committee adopted the budget 7 , a new peacekeeping structure has become effective since July 1 st , 2007. In the future, DPKO will demand from the deployment of more troops. While the old DPKO has certainly been overstretched, its history also shows that tight coordination between the field and UN peacekeeping headquarters are pivotal in any be focusing on operations, whereas the newly created DFS will handle management and logistics. 8 Yet the singly UN PKO. The verdict as to whether the establishment of a new department will GA rejected the SG’s proposal to give DFS the encourage or stifle coordination is still out. authority over procurement for peacekeeping • Envious Equality: Having two department heads operations, which will remain within another entity, the Department of Management. 9 Human resources that are equal in terms of UN hierarchy while one having to report to the other may turn out as a will increase due to 284 newly created positions, recipe for bureaucratic infight at the expense of though the SG had initially called for 400 new posts. operational efficiency in peacekeeping. Moreover, because USGs are the third highest rank in the UN nomenclature, their nomination is generally politically charged and subject to‘national’ and 3 United Nations, Report of the Panel on United Nations Peace Operations, A/55/305-S/2000/809, August 21, 2000. 4 See Security Council Report Special Report No. 5, 8 September 2006: http://www.securitycouncilreport.org/site/c.glKWLeMTIsG/b.2 056585/k.A1E/Special_Research_Report_No_5_8_September UN regional groupings’ claims. France insisted on the continuation of Jean-Marie Guéhenno at the helm of DPKO. Other countries that are not yet adequately represented in the UN hierarchy may lay claim to the position USG for DFS and bargains may not necessarily lead to the strongest _2006.htm 5 Resistance also arose because DPKO reform was linked to candidate for such a challenging job. • Bad Behavior: DPKO continues to face quality the SG’s proposal to downgrade the Department of management issues caused by misconduct of Disarmament into an Office for Disarmament Affairs. See http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/peacekpg/reform/2007/ 0206rejected.htm 6 These were the framework resolution A/61/L.54. 7 See A/C.5/61/L.71 8 For an organizational chart see http://www.un.org/Depts/dpko/DFSchart.pdf 9 See http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/peacekpg/reform/2007/ 0629splitintwo.htm mission members in the field. DPKO needs to safeguard that the increase in quantity of troops deployed does not compromise their quality. It continuously has to implement the lessons learned. A promising, more proactive approach already started to show when the UN recently made public cases of child molestation by mission members in Cote d’ Ivoire before the press broke the news. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Friedrich Ebert Foundation New York Office 747 Third Avenue, Suite 22B• New York, NY 10017 Tel:+1-212-687-0208• Fax:+1-212-687-0261• E-mail: fesny@fesny.org