United Nations Military, Police Deployment Reaches All-time High in October

United Nations peacekeeping deployment reached a historic high at the end of October, with 80,976 military and police personnel and some 15,000 civilians serving in peace operations around the world.

Currently the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations leads 18 different missions in Africa, the Caribbean, the Middle East, Europe and Asia.

The current surge in United Nations peacekeeping began in October 2003, with the deployment of five major operations —- Liberia, Côte d'Ivoire, Haiti, Burundi and the Sudan -- and the expansion of the mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  Over the past three months, the newly established mission in Timor-Leste and the increased deployment in Lebanon contributed to the record-breaking number of uniformed personnel in the field.  The previous peak in the United Nations’ 58 years of peacekeeping operations was in July 1993, when the United Nations had deployed 78,444 uniformed personnel—almost one-third of whom were serving in the United Nations Protection Force in Bosnia and Herzegovina.  (For Chart, visit www.un.org/Depts/dpko/chart.pdf.)

“The unprecedented growth represents a growing confidence in United Nations peacekeeping as a means to help build stability after conflict, said Jean-Marie Guéhenno, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations.  He added that “These new demands have also brought unprecedented challenges to the United Nations, including in the areas of personnel, resources, management, logistical support, quality assurance, professionalism and oversight, as well as the challenge of maintaining the political engagement of Member States.”

Peacekeeping personnel come from some 112 countries. As of 31 October, the top 10 troop contributors were:   Pakistan (9,790), Bangladesh (9,655), India (9,276), Jordan (3,819), Nepal (3,522), Ghana (2,674), Uruguay (2,583), Ethiopia (2,568), Nigeria (2,429) and South Africa (2,077).

Peacekeeping is paid for by all Member States, according to an agreed upon formula, which they established.  The current top ten financial contributors are: United States (27 per cent), Japan (19 per cent), Germany (9 per cent), United Kingdom (7 per cent), France (7 per cent), Italy (5 per cent), Canada (3 per cent), Spain (3 per cent), China (2 per cent) and the Netherlands (2 per cent).

As of 31 October, the annual budget for peacekeeping was $4.75 billion (excluding the financial implication of the new mission in Timor-Leste and the expansion of the mission in the Sudan), and outstanding contributions stood at $2.5 billion.  With the full deployment of the operation in Lebanon and if the mission in Darfur got under way, the budget could go as high as $7 billion.

For further information, please contact Shiyun Sang, Peace and Security Section, Strategic Communications Division, Department of Public Information, tel.: 1 212 963 9627; or email: sang@un.org; or Nick Birnback, tel.: 1 917 367 5044, e-mail: birnbackn@un.org.

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For information media • not an official record