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NEWS

Opinion: UN Peacekeeping is both a lifesaving tool and a smart investment

UNMISS/Gregório Cunha A Ghanaian peacekeeper serving with the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) interacts with internally displaced persons at a camp in Bentiu while on patrol.

UN Peacekeeping has a legacy of success, from Namibia to today's volatile hotspots. But to remain effective, it needs investment and adaptation.

by Jean-Pierre Lacroix,  Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations

UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

This March, some 35 years after the United Nations closed a landmark chapter in peacekeeping, Namibia inaugurated President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, the country’s first democratically elected woman head of state.

In 1989, despite rising global instability and a liquidity crisis at the UN, Member States came together to launch the United Nations Transition Assistance Group, or UNTAG — a multidimensional peacekeeping mission that helped usher in Namibia’s independence.

UNTAG didn’t just monitor a ceasefire in Namibia. It helped organize and secure the country’s first free and fair elections, protected civilians, verified troop withdrawals, and supported democratic transition across a vast and remote territory.

It pioneered approaches that are now cornerstones of modern peacekeeping, from UN policing and human rights monitoring to electoral support and a robust public information campaign.

Today, United Nations Peacekeeping stands at a critical juncture. The global landscape is dangerous and complex. Crises erupt quickly and spread faster, magnified by international political polarisation, transnational crime, terrorism, a rising sense of impunity, and the weakening of international law.

The globally recognized UN Peacekeeping blue helmets enjoy broad international support. Now more than ever, peacekeepers remain on the frontlines — holding ground, protecting civilians, and creating the space necessary for diplomacy to work. But faced with increasing instability and mounting financial pressure, peacekeeping’s effectiveness depends on investment in its future.

MINUSMA/Harandane Dicko Blue helmets serving with MINUSMA in Mali.

Blue helmets on the frontlines

The work of our UN peacekeepers — men and women serving far from their homes to help others live in peace — is demanding and complex, but it is also dangerous. Since January 2024, we have suffered 78 fatalities. Many more have been injured. Their sacrifice, and the service of more than 68,000 military, police, and civilian personnel deployed under the UN flag — including uniformed peacekeepers from 119 countries — represents a tangible commitment to peace and security. 

Across 11 missions, big and small, peacekeepers operate in some of the world’s most volatile contexts. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, our peacekeeping mission MONUSCO is helping to shield civilians from violence while supporting dialogue and disarmament.  

In Lebanon, UNIFIL remains a stabilizing presence along the Blue Line amid ongoing exchanges of fire. In South Sudan, UNMISS is working to prevent a relapse into civil war by enhancing security and promoting dialogue and negotiation at the local and national levels. 

In the Central African Republic, MINUSCA continues to protect the vulnerable all over the country and is supporting preparations for the country’s first local elections in decades. And in Cyprus, peacekeepers serving with UNFICYP continue to reduce tensions and maintain a buffer strip to promote security and build confidence between communities. 

Many of these missions face challenges that reflect deeper complexities, with confusing or impractical mandates, ambiguous political support at local and international levels, a lack of a clearly defined end-state, and a widening gap between expectations and resources. 

MINUSCA In conflict zones, female peacekeepers play an important role in building trust with local populations. Pictured here, women peacekeepers from Nepal with women and children from the local community in the Central African Republic.

Investing in peacekeeping 

2025 is a pivotal year. As we mark the UN’s 80th anniversary, Germany — a stalwart peacekeeping partner of long standing — hosted a UN Peacekeeping Ministerial meeting in Berlin earlier this month. Ministers of defence and foreign affairs from around the world united in pledging their unequivocal and tangible support for and to our blue helmets. More than half of the 130 Member State delegations present made concrete pledges to make missions stronger, safer, and more effective.

They discussed the future of peace missions and ways to reform the instrument to ensure our operations remain adaptable, innovative, cost-effective, and resilient. As it did in Namibia in the early 90s, UN Peacekeeping has always adapted to and achieved results in ever-changing contexts. Going forward, we will need to build on this momentum to ensure peacekeeping is streamlined, economical, and fit for purpose.

And on this point, it is important to stress that peacekeeping is not only a lifesaving tool — it is a smart investment. It delivers value for money, reduces violence, and helps forge a durable peace. From Cambodia to Timor-Leste and El Salvador to Liberia, U.N. Peacekeeping has supported transitions from war to peace at a minuscule fraction of what military activities have cost worldwide. 

These achievements are not historical footnotes: they are the building blocks of regional stability.

And UN Peacekeeping must and will continue to evolve. Missions may be deployed jointly with or in support of regional partners, such as the African Union. They may be smaller, more technologically leveraged, and more specialised. But their core purpose will remain to support political solutions, protect the vulnerable, and pave the way for a sustainable peace.

If the past tells us anything, it is that peacekeeping can deliver when we invest in it and stay the course. Peacekeeping’s record is measured not only by what happens but by what doesn’t — violence that was averted, escalation that was prevented, space that was created for politics to work.

We ignore this hard-won truth at our peril — UN mission closures in Mali, Sudan, and Haiti, and the rise of violence in all of these countries, are cases in point. To avoid this trap, we must maintain readiness and the capabilities to deploy rapidly, if and when asked.

Thirty-five years ago, the world came together to launch UNTAG, a ground-breaking peace mission that helped Namibia chart its own course as an independent country. Today, that same spirit of unity, innovation, and determination is needed once again. If we fall short now, we risk undermining decades of progress and undermining the hopes of millions who depend on peacekeeping to help protect their future.

© UNIFIL/Haidar Fahs A peacekeeper serving with the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) on observation duties.

NEWS---‘This is not just ice’: Glaciers support human livelihoods, UN deputy chief says

UN Tajikistan Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed delivers remarks at the opening ceremony of the International Conference on Glacier's Preservation in Tajikistan.

30 May 2025 Climate and Environment

UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed called for urgent action to protect water-related ecosystems in remarks to the International Conference on Glaciers’ Preservation in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, on Friday.

She said that since 1975, glaciers have lost more than 9,000 billion tons of ice -  equivalent to a 25-metre-thick block covering all of Germany.

“At current rates, many glaciers may not survive this century, reshaping landscapes, ecosystems, livelihoods and water security on a global scale,” she warned.

“This is not just a mountain crisis – it is a slow-moving global catastrophe with far-reaching consequences for planet and people.”

Not just ice

Ms. Mohammed was speaking a day after visiting the Vanj Yakh Glacier in north-central Tajikistan where she witnessed the “breathtaking beauty” of this crucial mass of dense ice.  

The glacier is a vital water source for many communities in Central Asia, feeding rivers and helping to sustain millions of lives and livelihoods.

But due to climate change, it is melting. Quickly. Over the past 80 years, it lost the equivalent of 6.4 million Olympic sized pools of water.

“This is not just ice. This is food, water and security for generations to come,” said Ms. Mohammed.

‘Our glaciers are dying’

Glaciers, along with ice sheets, store approximately 70 per cent of the world’s freshwater, making them essential for human survival and economies. But five of the past six years have witnessed the most rapid glacier retreat on record.

“Our glaciers are dying,” said Celeste Saulo, Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), a co-organizer of the conference.

“The death of a glacier means much more than the loss of ice. It is a mortal blow to our ecosystems, economies, and social fabric.”

Melting glaciers increase the likelihood and severity of floods and mudslides, in addition to impacting various industries such as agriculture and forestry.  

Bridging science and action 

Ms. Mohammed said that the rate of glacier retreat means that the international community must take immediate action. 

“The time to act is now for our people and our planet,” she said.  

The conference in Dushanbe has worked to elevate glacier preservation to the top of the worldwide climate agenda ahead of the UN COP30 climate change conference in Brazil this November.

Ms. Saulo emphasized that strengthening glacier monitoring and improving warning systems for glacier collapse will help “bridge science and services.” She also said that this must all translate into concrete action to slow glacier retreat.  

In Tajikistan specifically, Parvathy Ramaswami — the UN Resident Coordinator in the country — said that they have focused on supporting farmers through training and knowledge transfer for local communities.  

“[The training] means that more children are safe from disasters, they can go to school, learn and grow,” she explained. “Families and communities become resilient and prosper.” 

UN Tajikistan Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed (centre) with Model UN youths and Ambassador for a Day in Tajikistan.

Intergenerational conversations

In Tajikistan, the Deputy Secretary-General met with many youth climate activists. She emphasized that actions to address glacier retreat must be intergenerational, much like the conversations which the conference encouraged. 

“The global decisions we are shaping today will affect [young people’s] lives. So to think that we can begin to shape a person's future without them, really doesn't bode well for the rights that they have to determine their future, their aspirations,” she said.

In giving advice to younger generations, she expressed hope that young activists would continue to advocate for their vision of the future. 

“They should continue to raise their voices, they should continue to have their courage of conviction, they should remember that this is about a life journey and they need to make every step count.”