Top UN Peacekeeping Official Warns Of ‘Overstretch’ As Mission Staff Numbers Surge
New York, Oct 4 2006 7:00PM
An “unprecedented” surge is taking place in the number and size of United Nations peacekeeping missions, with as many as
140,000 staff members likely to be in the field next year, a senior UN official said today, warning of the dangers of
political overstretch when there are so many operations competing for attention.
Jean-Marie Guéhenno, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, told reporters at a briefing in UN
Headquarters in New York that “we have our work really cut out for us” to manage the growth in size of peacekeeping
missions, especially as the planned full deployment unfolds in Lebanon, Sudan’s Darfur region and Timor-Leste.
He said there are more than 93,000 people currently working in the field at the UN’s 16 peacekeeping missions and two
political-peacebuilding missions that are directed and supported by the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO).
Once the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and the UN Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT) complete their full
deployment, and if the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) expands its operations in Darfur as authorized, then there will be
over 140,000 blue helmets, police officers and civilian staff in place.
Mr. Guéhenno said the cost of running so many operations with such enormous numbers of staff is scheduled to top $6
billion and keep increasing.
“When I look at those figures, in some ways I see that as a vote of confidence in UN peacekeeping. I see that as also a
good sign, in the sense that it means a number of conflicts are ending because you can’t have peacekeeping in the midst
of a shooting war,” he said.
“But I also see, and it’s my duty to see it, the enormous challenge that that represents: the managerial challenge, to
make sure that on all those 18 different operations, 18 different political processes, we are attentive to them, and we
support them adequately; [and] the very practical challenges of supporting that number of peole, making sure that tῨey
have the right quality, that they have the professionalism that we want them to have, that there is a proper oversight
in all areas.
Praising the work of staff in the field and serving peacekeeping operations at UN Headquarters, he called on the
international community to step up and ensure it plays an appropriate role in ensuring that each individual mission
receives the attention it deserves.
“Sometimes there is a sense that once a peacekeeping operation is authorized, then the work shifts from the Member
States to the Secretariat. I don’t think that’s the case. Of course it’s more work for us, but it also means that the
Member States have to be doubly engaged so that the political processes that our deployments are exected to support
come to fruition.
In response to reporters’ questions, the Under-Secretary-General also stressed that he was in the midst of a programme
to restructure DPKO and its culture into a more field-oriented department.
ends