GAO: United Nations Peacekeeping - Challenges Obtaining Needed Resources Could Limit Further Large Deployments and Should be Addressed in U.S. Reports to Congress

GAO: United Nations Peacekeeping - Challenges Obtaining Needed Resources Could Limit Further Large Deployments and Should be Addressed in U.S. Reports to Congress
December 19, 2008

The United Nations (UN) supports U.S. interests in maintaining international security by deploying and operating 16 peacekeeping operations in locations in conflict, including Darfur, Lebanon, and Haiti. Over the past 10 years, the number of deployed UN personnel increased from about 41,000 peacekeepers and civilian staff to about 109,000 in 2008. In this report on the UN’s capacity to deploy further operations, GAO was asked to examine (1) the evolution of UN peacekeeping operations in the past 10 years; (2) the likely characteristics of a potential new peacekeeping operation, given this evolution; (3) the challenges, if any, the UN would face deploying this operation; and (4) U.S. efforts to support and report on UN peacekeeping. GAO reviewed UN documents, developed a methodology to assess the requirements for a potential new operation with UN assistance, interviewed UN headquarters and mission officials, and assessed U.S. government documents on UN peacekeeping.

What GAO Recommends
To ensure Congress has the information needed to consider U.S. budget and other requests for peacekeeping, GAO recommends that the Department of State (State) include in its reporting to Congress information about UN challenges and gaps in obtaining resources needed to carry out peacekeeping. In response to State’s comment that GAO should not specify the reports in which this information should be provided, GAO modified the recommendation. The UN concurred with the conclusions of the report.

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