Peacekeeping Operations

Description

The Peacekeeping Operations (PKO) account supports programs that bolster the capacity of partner nations to conduct peacekeeping and counterterrorism operations, support stabilization in countries facing violent conflict, enhance maritime security, and undertake security sector reform.

What does it buy?

The account supports several regional peacekeeping operations and bilateral security initiatives, including the Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty’s security provisions. The PKO account also f inances U.S. assessments for the U.N. Support Office in Somalia (UNSOS), which provides critical equipment and logistical support to the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM).

Why is it important?

• PKO helps stabilize areas by supporting efforts to disarm combatants, promote good governance and the rule of law, protect civilians, and facilitate humanitarian action.
• PKO is essential to improving international security and sustaining and consolidating peace settlements.
• Funds benefit Somalia, the second most fragile state in the world, in its fight against al-Shabaab.
• PKO funds the State Department’s Global Peace Operations Initiative (GPOI), facilitating the training and deployment of more than 197,000 personnel from 38 countries to 29 peace operations around the world.
• GPOI actively expands the role of women and enhances gender integration.
  • It encourages women’s participation, integration, and leadership in peace operations; trains female peacekeepers; and integrates gender-related topics— including preventing gender-based violence and sexual exploitation and abuse—into training for all peacekeepers.
  • From 2010 to 2019, GPOI partners increased the number of deployed women military peacekeepers by 103%, as compared to a 1% increase among non-GPOI countries.

Why should Americans care?

• Assessed U.S. contributions to UNSOS and voluntary contributions to AMISOM directly advances U.S. counterterrorism priorities in the Horn of Africa.
• AMISOM works to stabilize Somalia and help Somali security forces push back against al-Shabaab, which continues to carry out deadly attacks targeting civilians and security forces in Somalia and countries in the wider Horn of Africa region, particularly Kenya, a U.S. ally.

COVID-19 Impacts

• COVID-19 has delayed several troop rotations as U.N. officials and offices develop mitigation measures to promote the safety, security, and health of U.N. personnel currently in the field.
• U.N. peacekeeping missions have reoriented their community outreach to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and dispel misinformation.

What more could be done?

• Investing $548.1 million would allow the U.S. to pay its assessments for the U.N. Support Office in Somalia (UNSOS) in full for F.Y. 2022 and fund a full range of other critical activities included in the Peacekeeping Operations account.
• Paying UNSOS dues at the assessed rate and repaying arrears will better facilitate UNSOS’s ability to support AMISOM.
• UNSOS, which is funded as part of the U.N.’s annual peacekeeping budget, provides AMISOM with rations, fuel, water, and armored personnel carriers, helicopters, and planes. These vehicles and the aid they provide are critical for allowing AMISOM—whose troops are drawn entirely from U.S. allies in the region, including Uganda, Djibouti, Ethiopia, and Kenya—to fulfill its mandate.