As budgets shrink, UN Peacekeeping looks to the future

“This is a particularly timely meeting,” said Jean-Pierre Lacroix, UN Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, at a press conference in New York on Thursday.

“It’s a unique opportunity to underline the added value of peacekeeping and ensure we remain ready, as a peacekeeping family, to respond with Member States to any new mission that may arise.”

The UN Peacekeeping Ministerial 2025 is expected to draw around 1,000 delegates to the German capital next month, including foreign and defence ministers from across the globe. Their goal: to shape a peacekeeping model that is more agile, intelligent and resilient.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres is also due to attend the meeting taking place on 13 and 14 May.

Facing growing challenges

As conflicts intensify from South Sudan to the Middle East and Kashmir, and as geopolitical divides weaken international consensus, this biennial conference is being called one of the most significant since its inception in 2014.

“We are facing more internal and inter-State conflicts than at any point since the Second World War,” Mr. Lacroix noted, pointing to the increasing complexity of modern warfare.

Additional challenges such as transnational crime, online disinformation, and climate change are also affecting missions – at a time when peacekeeping budgets continue to shrink.

‘Difference between life and death’

Despite these pressures, ‘blue helmets’ continue to carry out their work under extremely difficult conditions. “They protect hundreds of thousands of people,” said the peacekeeping chief. “Very often, their presence is the difference between life and death.”

Germany, a key contributor to UN peacekeeping, is leading the organization of the upcoming meeting. “Peacekeeping is multilateralism in action,” said Nils Hilmer, Germany’s State Secretary for Defence. “We want to provide a platform for Member States to strengthen peacekeeping for the future.”

Sessions in Berlin will include pledging events, high-level debates, exhibitions, and a spotlight on Germany’s involvement in missions such as UNIFIL in Lebanon and UNMISS in South Sudan.

At the heart of the UN

Katharina Stasch, Germany’s Director-General for International Order and Disarmament, highlighted the symbolic power of peacekeepers. “For many, the blue helmets are the face of the UN. Peacekeeping is at the heart of the organization.”

The meeting will also support progress on the UN's Pact for the Future reform initiative, with topics including conflict prevention, digital innovation, regional partnerships and countering disinformation.

“The mission remains the same,” said. Lacroix. “Helping host countries through their most turbulent times – despite tighter budgets.”