U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley is concerned about U.N. peacekeeping operations, saying “in many cases U.N. peacekeeping is just not working.”.
Speaking at a Security Council meeting on April 6, she listed missions which didn’t work and why: the Darfur, mission, for instance, was deigned to a job which no longer exists, the Kosovo mission was no longer needed, and the forces in the Democratic Republic of the Congo only restrained certain rebel groups but allowed others to operate freely.
“Peacekeeping mandates must be realistic and achievable. Mandates should be targeted to the challenges facing the country and given the resources and the capabilities to do the job,” she stated.
“At the same time we must avoid mission creep. It is common practice for missions to gradually snowball over time as they pick up more and more tasks and staff. What we end up with is a monster mission with unclear priorities and reporting lines.”
The United States funds 22 percent of the U.N.’s $5.4 billion annual budget—about a billion dollars a year, and also funds 28 percent of the $7.9 billion peacekeeping budget, about another two billion.
Haley said she plans to review each of the 16 U.N. peacekeeping missions.
“Part of leadership is knowing when something needs to be fixed and having the will to do something about it. I look forward to working with all of you to do just that.”
