Source: United Nations General Assembly and Security Council
Delegates Debate ‘Christmas-Tree’ Add-on Mandates versus Focusing on Core Tasks
The Security Council today debated ways to adapt United Nations peacekeeping to evolving threats with Member States emphasizing the need to partner with regional organizations and actively involve local communities, particularly women. They also stressed the importance of aligning mandates with available resources, leveraging intelligence-led strategies and digital tools for data-driven decision-making, and avoiding overly broad “Christmas-tree mandates” that prolong operations and escalate costs.
“Terror and extremist groups, organized crime, the weaponization of new technologies and the effects of climate change are all testing our capacities to respond,” United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said during the Council’s day-long open debate focusing on the ability of United Nations peace operations to adjust to new realities on the ground. These challenges along with more complex and deadly wars, he cautioned, “throw fuel on the fires of conflict”.
He also highlighted a “persistent mismatch between mandates and available resources”, as well as growing divisions within Council itself. To address this, he called for a tailored and collective approach to peace operations. Announcing a forthcoming United Nations peace operation review — mandated by Member States in the Pact for the Future, he said that this process will incorporate insights from the New Agenda for Peace and from the first comprehensive study of special political missions in the 80-year history of the United Nations.
Peace operations, he emphasized, must engage early with host nations and local partners, guided by clear, achievable mandates and viable exit strategies. “Today’s open debate provides a vital opportunity for the Council to share perspectives and ideas to inform the review process,” Mr. Guterres concluded.
Cultural Shifts Required
“The fact that peace operations are effective is one of the most verified findings in international relations literature,” said Jenna Russo, Director of Research at the International Peace Institute and Head of the Brian Urquhart Center for Peace Operations. “Yet, there is often a dissonance between these findings and the lived experiences of those in conflict settings,” she added.
Offering four recommendations, she first called for a stronger planning culture within the Secretariat. Bureaucratic and political barriers have kept this culture of planning from taking root, she said, adding that the Organization should build the capacity to discern emerging trends, anticipate potential shifts and respond proactively.
Secondly, she said, the Organization must embrace a “risk-tolerant culture around peace operations”, noting that “personnel are structurally disincentivized from trying new things and reporting what doesn’t work for fear that their budgets and jobs may suffer the consequences”. She highlighted the need for a culture that creates space for trying and even failing, with the aim of learning and improving — “this culture must come from the top”.
“The Secretariat should tell the Council what it needs to hear, not what it wants to hear,” she underscored as her third recommendation, citing the 2000 Report of the Panel on United Nations Peace Operations. Instead of the Secretariat pre-emptively lowering the bar on what is politically possible, she said, it should present a wide range of options and leave it to the Council to adjust the bar.
Modular Approach — Building Blocks
Her final recommendation was that the Council should consider the advantages and the risks of a modular approach to peace operations. Mandated sets of activities like electoral support, human rights monitoring or security sector reform can be “treated like building blocks that can be scaled up or down over the lifespan of a mission”, she said. This approach can promote more tailored responses and align mandates with available resources, but it comes with the risk that broader peacebuilding aspects “could fall by the wayside if the Council or host States view them as optional”, she added.
In the ensuing open debate, speakers stressed the need to evolve with the times, underscored the importance of regional partnerships and called for a more people-centered approach that involves local communities, and specifically women, in peace efforts.
Closer Cooperation with Regional Organizations
“For millions, the blue flag and the blue helmets are symbols of hope,” said Lars Løkke Rasmussen, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Denmark and Council President for March, as he spoke in his national capacity. However, just as conflicts and needs have evolved, so must the UN’s tools, he stressed, urging closer collaboration with regional and subregional organizations — “especially the African Union” — and the inclusion of women in peace processes.
Zane Dangor, Director-General of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation of South Africa, said that deployments by regional and subregional organizations, such as the African Union and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), if authorized and supported by the UN, could off-set the limitations of the Organization’s peacekeeping operations. Calling for the accelerated implementation of Council resolution 2719 (2023), he said the Council can also gain insights from the experiences of African peace operations that are often conducted in difficult conditions and with limited resources.
Jiří Kozák, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, emphasized that strong coordination with regional partners, such as the African Union and European Union, must be systematic, practical and based on the sharing of resources, information and best practices. “Improved coordination will ensure stronger political and operational support,” he added.
Similarly, Guyana’s representative highlighted the need for deeper collaboration with regional organizations and reiterated the calls of previous speakers who stressed that women must be present at all levels — from peacekeeping forces to peace negotiations.
“Peace should be built from the ground up,” said Javier Martínez-Acha Vásquez, Panama’s Minister for Foreign Affairs. Conflict-resolution mechanisms “are more likely to last when women are leaders and involved in the peacebuilding process”, he added. Insun Kang, Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea, called for a people-centered approach that respects host country priorities and national ownership. “This approach views local populations as not just beneficiaries of peacekeeping efforts, but active participants,” she said, noting her country’s rice cultivation and vocational training initiatives in South Sudan.
Noting that the Council has not mandated a new peacekeeping operation in 10 years, Syed Tariq Fatemi, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister of Pakistan, warned that the UN’s absence is being filled by “negative actors and soldiers of fortune”. UN peacekeeping is cost effective, representing only 3 per cent of global military spending. The Council must ensure it is properly funded and resourced.
Accountability for Performance
As the global leader of peacekeeping capacity-building, the United States aims to ensure that its programmes have measurable effects on the ground, said that country’s representative. “Robust accountability measures will enhance the effectiveness and efficiencies of UN peacekeeping missions,” she said, adding that accountability must incentivize positive performance and expedient consequences for performance failures.
On that, Somalia’s delegate, pointing to Africa’s experience with peacekeeping operations, stressed that “success depends on two interlinked principles — clear strategic planning and operational adaptability”.
Caution against ‘Christmas-Tree Mandates’
Several speakers expressed concern about the overbroad mandates of UN peacekeeping missions, noting that these mandates often lead to prolonged missions in host countries, costing billions of dollars. “The result is missions that are present in countries for decades and cost billions of dollars,” said the representative of the Russian Federation. Rather, she stressed that “the goal we need to be aiming for” is that, after a mandate is implemented, host States assume full responsibility for conflict prevention.
“We must end the strange phenomenon where every mandate renewal leads to expansion,” said China’s representative, also rejecting the “unchecked growth of Christmas-tree mandates”. He further underscored that the principles of consent, impartiality and non-use of force except in self-defence “should always be upheld as fundamental guidelines”.
Similarly, Algeria’s delegate said: “We are witnessing, in some cases, what can be described as ‘Christmas-tree’ mandates, under which UN missions are tasked with an overwhelming number of responsibilities, thus hindering their ability to undertake focused and targeted engagements”.
Slovenia’s delegate was among the speakers who stressed the need to enhance early warning and rapid response capabilities to address conflicts before they escalate. “Missions must be proactive rather than reactive,” she said. Greece’s delegate, echoing many other delegations, condemned attacks on peacekeepers and emphasized the need to ensure their absolute safety.
Clear, Realistic Mandates, Use of Digital Tools
France’s delegate said that “peacekeeping is the heart” of the UN. Peacekeeping missions “need to be part of a strategy, but in order for them to be successful, the mandate has to be based on clear, realistic and political objectives”, he added. The representative of the United Kingdom said the UN needs to harness innovation, using data-driven decision-making, intelligence-led approaches and digital tools. Peacekeepers must be trained on emerging threats, including cyberwarfare, disinformation campaigns and climate-related security risks.
On the Secretary-General’s efforts to make the united Nations fit for purpose, Beate Meinl-Reisinger, Federal Minister for European and International Affairs of Austria, stated: “Reform, yes; replace, no.” Underlining the need for a “flexible toolbox of peace operations”, she stressed the importance of political solutions to the success of such operations. “They can only keep peace where there is a peace to keep,” she observed.
Over the past eight decades, the UN has deployed more than 120 peace operations in over 50 countries, and to a very large extent, these missions have helped prevent, manage and resolve conflicts, said the representative of Sierra Leone. When his country was in the throes of a brutal civil war more than 20 years ago, the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) assisted in disarming more than 75,000 ex-combatants, restored State authority and oversaw the first post-conflict democratic elections. “The Mission, at the time, was seen as a prototype for the UN’s new emphasis on peacebuilding and showed how a well-resourced and adaptable UN operation can support a country to rebuild, reconcile and reclaim its future,” he said.
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