March 24, 2025
Thank you, Mr. President. And I thank Secretary-General Guterres, for his remarks and ongoing efforts to adapt UN peacekeeping to evolving challenges to ensure it remains fit for purpose. And I thank you, Foreign Minister Rasmussen, for your leadership in organizing this very timely debate. I also thank Ms. Jenna Russo of the International Peace Institute for your insightful briefing.
And I join others who have expressed appreciation for those participating in peace operations on the ground – often at great risk to themselves and to those who have made the ultimate sacrifice.
UN peacekeeping represents an effective tool to address threats to international peace and security with the political support and financial backing of the international community. In a wide variety of threat environments, UN peacekeeping missions have reduced and contained violence, shortened conflicts, fostered economic growth in host countries, strengthened state sovereignty, and facilitated political settlements leading to lasting peace.
Many people across the globe today are better off because at a difficult moment in their country’s history, the UN deployed peacekeepers.
At the same time, we must also recognize that UN peacekeeping today faces a variety of challenges, these include an increasingly multipolar international system leading to a lack of consensus on mission mandates; misaligned expectations among the UN Security Council, missions, and host nations; declining or fractured host state cooperation and consent; interference from neighboring Member States; and the weaponization of new and emerging technologies such as AI and drones, or counter-drones. All of these concerns affect the safety and security of peacekeepers, further complicating conflict dynamics.
UN peacekeeping must overcome these challenges to better meet the global security threats of today and tomorrow.
To that end, Mr. President, the United States is focused on three initial aspects of peacekeeping reform.
First, we must have accountability for performance. Robust accountability measures for all components of a peacekeeping mission will enhance the effectiveness and efficiencies of UN peacekeeping missions. Capacity-building and training of troop- and police-contributing countries must be tied to improving the performance of units on the ground. As the global leader in peacekeeping capacity building, the United States has adapted our strategies with partners to ensure our programs have measurable effects on the ground.
In addition, accountability for mission performance, for both civilian and uniformed personnel, should include both incentivizing positive performance and imposing expedient consequences for performance failures, conduct and discipline issues, and inaction in the face of imminent threat of physical violence against civilians. For example, systematically withholding reimbursement and repatriating or replacing units and staff when appropriate would reinforce the responsibility of missions to more effectively implement their mandates and deliver results.
UN Security Council Resolution 2436 called on the UN to improve peacekeeping methods to measure performance, but gaps remain. We must use available data and performance results to ensure all components of a peacekeeping operation are held accountable for performance.
While the system and assessment processes are providing readiness data, UN decision-making on force generation must be based on the performance record of troop- and police-contributing countries and a demonstrated commitment to uphold the principles of peacekeeping and not on political sensitivities and considerations.
Second, we call on the Secretariat and troop- and police-contributing countries to accelerate and expand efforts to prevent and address sexual exploitation and abuse, including by holding accountable both perpetrators and empowered officials who look the other way. We demand the Secretariat and all UN peacekeeping operations to uphold the UN’s zero tolerance policy by withholding reimbursements to mission personnel and repatriating units and contingents that commit sexual exploitation and abuse. We must all continue to focus on prevention efforts, the repatriation and prosecution of individuals and units who commit sexual exploitation and abuse, and support to victims to demonstrate our genuine commitment to ending the scourge of sexual exploitation and abuse in UN peacekeeping missions.
Third, the lack of integrated planning that leads to a clear, strategic end state is a glaring gap. We therefore must improve planning in New York and strengthen planning between the Secretariat and missions to ensure integrated operational planning at the mission level. Missions can only effectively prioritize resources with clear and well-identified benchmarks for mandate implementation and improving the use of data already collected to make stronger evidence-based decisions.
Through these efforts and others, we can collectively work to promote efficient use of resources while maintaining mission effectiveness.
We will push for these needed reforms, all of which align with our priority to return the focus of the UN to its original purpose: maintaining international peace and security.
As the world’s largest financial contributor to UN peacekeeping, the United States will drive innovation, promote the highest standards for performance, demand accountability, and seek to ensure a return on our investment in peacekeeping.
Since 2016, the United States has contributed more than $15 billion in UN peacekeeping assessments. Additionally, the United States has invested more than $1.8 billion in peacekeeping capacity-building programs, with more than 60 percent of deployed peacekeepers benefiting from our training. As the top funder of UN peacekeeping, we expect our common-sense reform priorities to undergird UN reform efforts as we continue to evaluate how we can more efficiently support these missions, to more effectively and efficiently deliver on their mandates.
The international community deserves a UN peacekeeping enterprise that is more efficient, accountable, and adaptable. Collectively, we must work to strengthen and adapt UN peacekeeping now, at the upcoming UN Peacekeeping Ministerial in Berlin, and into the future.
I thank you.