UN member states approve USD 6.69 billion dollar budget for 13 peacekeeping operations; US tops in contribution

New York, July 7: The United Nations member states on Friday approved a USD 6.69 billion dollar budget for 13 peacekeeping operations for the year 2018-19.

 

Notably, the United States continues to remain the biggest contributor to the United Nations, paying 22 percent of the USD 5.4 billion core budget and 28.5 percent of the USD 7.9 billion peacekeeping budget. However, China is the other top contributor with 10.3 percent and Japan with 9.7 percent.

After the recommendation of the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) of the General Assembly, the UN member states approved a USD 6.69 billion dollar budget for 13 peacekeeping operations from July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019, besides agreeing to major management reforms, including creation of two new departments focused on political and peace-building affairs.

The UN member states approved a USD 6.69 billion dollar budget for 13 peacekeeping operations for the year 2018-19, besides agreeing to major management reforms, including the creation of two new departments focused on political and peacebuilding affairs.

The missions include MINUJUSTH (United Nations Mission for Justice Support in Haiti), MINURSO (Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara), MINUSCA (Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in the Central African Republic), MONUSCO (Stabilisation Mission in Democratic Republic of the Congo) and UNIFIL (Interim Force in Lebanon).

Interestingly, it is the second year in a row in which the committee has made significant cuts to the overall peacekeeping budget.

Approving a draft resolution titled 'Special subjects relating to the programme budget for the biennium 2018-2019', the Committee asked the assembly to endorse the establishment of the Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and the Department of Peace Operations.

Further, the assembly would create four stand-alone divisions for Africa, effective from January 1 2019. Affirming "Middle East Division" as the name of the related new regional division, the lead responsibility for the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) would be placed in the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs.

The US Mission to the UN said that the UN Member States adopted a responsible peacekeeping budget that reflects hundreds of millions of dollars in savings from the previous year and ensures peacekeeping missions are adequately funded to fulfill their mandates.

It said the major reforms approved by the member states, the first in more than 40 years, would result in a restructuring that cuts through silos and UN bureaucracy, increases commonsense UN coordination, removes redundancies, and ultimately makes the UN a more accountable, transparent, and efficient organization.