 | |
| Abbreviation | DPO |
|---|---|
| Formation | March 1992[1][2] |
| Headquarters | United Nations Headquarters |
Head | Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix |
Parent organization | United Nations Secretariat |
| Subsidiaries | Office of Operations, Office of Rule of Law and Security Institutions, Office of Military Affairs, Policy, Evaluation and Training Division |
| Website | peacekeeping |
TheDepartment of Peace Operations (DPO) (French:Département des opérations de maintien de la paix) is a department of theUnited Nations charged with the planning, preparation, management, and direction ofUN peacekeeping operations. Previously known as theDepartment of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), it was created in 1992 as part of a restructuring of the UN's peace and security apparatus.[3] The DPO retains the core functions and responsibilities of its predecessor, with a greater emphasis on cohesion, integrating different resources and knowledge, and promoting human rights.[3]
With an annual budget of roughly $6.5 billion as of 2020, the DPO is the largest UN agency by expenditure, exceeding the UN's own regular budget.[4][5] As of March 2020, it oversaw 81,370 personnel serving in 13 peacekeeping missions.[6]
The DPO traces its roots to 1948 with the creation of theUnited Nations Military Observer Group for India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) and theUnited Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO). Up to the late 1980s, peacekeeping missions were operated by six officials in the United Nations Office of Special Political Affairs, which was headed first byUnder-Secretary-GeneralRalph Bunche, and subsequentlyBrian Urquhart andMarrack Goulding.[7] From the beginning, peacekeeping operations operated with a clear doctrine that applied to its traditional or classical peacekeeping operations for inter-state ceasefires: peacekeepers did not take sides or discharge firearms, save in self-defense, or meddle in politics.
The Department of Peacekeeping Operations was created in March 1992 whenBoutros Boutros-Ghali took office as Secretary-General of the United Nations; its creation was one of his first decisions.[8] In organisational terms, it upgraded and expanded upon the work of the previous Field Administration and Logistics Division (FALD) (which remained active as a subordinate department).[9] Goulding became under-secretary-general (or USG) for peacekeeping with Kofi Annan appointed as his deputy. The role of the DPKO, however, wasn't clarified until June 1992, when Boutrous-Ghali issuedAn Agenda for Peace, a plan to strengthen the UN's capacity for preventive diplomacy and peacekeeping.
French nationals have served as Under-Secretaries-General for Peacekeeping Operations since 1997.[10]
At an October 2006 press conference, then USGJean-Marie Guéhenno announced that peacekeeping operations had reached an all-time high, and would continue to expand asUNIFIL andUNMIT reached full strength, and if a UN mission were to enterDarfur.[11]
As of 2010, DPO led 16 different missions inAfrica, theCaribbean, theMiddle East,Americas,Europe, andAsia.[12] Serving in these missions were over 100,000 uniformed and civilian personnel. Total approved annual expenses were over US$5 billion for the period July 2006 to June 2007.[13]
DPO is split into two main offices: the Office of Operations and the Office of Mission Support (OMS).
Included within the Office of Mission Support are the logistics and administrative divisions, which provide logistics, personnel, and financial support services to DPO missions. OMS is responsible for determining financial reimbursement to UN member states for their contribution ofContingent owned equipment, troops, and services to peacekeeping missions.Letters of Assist are an important part of this. Also part of DPO areMine Action, Training, Best Practices, and Military and Police Divisions.
A March 2007United Nations General Assembly Resolution titled “Strengthening the capacity of the Organization in Peacekeeping Operations” called for the re-structuring of the department and the establishment of a separateDepartment of Field Support. Whereas the new entity serves as an enabler by coordinating the administration and logistics in UN peacekeeping operations, DPO concentrates on policy planning and providing strategic directions.[citation needed]
This re-organisation was paralleled by a DPO reform effort launched in 2005 entitled 'Peace Operations 2010', which further pursues reforms initiated by the 'Brahimi Report' Report of the Panel on United Nations Peacekeeping Operations. This included an increase in personnel, the harmonization of the conditions of service of field and headquarters staff, the development of guidelines and standard operating procedures, and improving the partnership arrangement between the Department of Peace Operations (DPO) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), African Union and European Union. One area of this reform effort has been the development of clearer internal doctrine or guidance for UN peacekeeping. The highest level DPO doctrine document was issued in 2008, known as the 'capstone' doctrine.[14]
Secretary-General Guterres has made efforts to streamline peacekeeping efforts to conserve finances, and eliminate excess and unnecessary roles. Shared regional divisions of the DPA and DPO will restructure and remove duplication of tasks, allowing for more manpower to be available for new initiates and existing operations. This gives the department more resources and responsibilities for broader peace-building efforts, which are of course by their nature linked to political analysis and strategy (Cliffe, 2018).
The following is a chronological list of those who have held the position ofUnder-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations:[15]
| No. | Portrait | Name (Birth–Death) | Term of office | Country | Secretary-General | Ref. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Took office | Left office | Time in office | ||||||
| 1 |  | Marrack Goulding (1936–2010) | March 1992 | 28 February 1993 | 11 months |  United Kingdom | Boutros Boutros-Ghali | [16] |
| 2 | .jpg) | Kofi Annan (1938–2018) | 1 March 1993 | 31 December 1996 | 3 years, 9 months |  Ghana | [17] | |
| 3 |  | Bernard Miyet (born 1946) | 28 January 1997 | 30 September 2000 | 3 years, 8 months |  France | Kofi Annan | [18] |
| 4 |  | Jean-Marie Guéhenno (born 1949) | 1 October 2000 | 30 June 2008 | 7 years, 8 months | [19] | ||
| 5 | .jpg) | Alain Le Roy (born 1953) | 30 June 2008 | 25 August 2011 | 3 years, 1 month | Ban Ki-moon | [20] | |
| 6 |  | Hervé Ladsous (born 1950) | 2 September 2011 | 31 March 2017 | 5 years, 6 months | [21] | ||
| 7 |  | Jean-Pierre Lacroix (born 1960) | 1 April 2017 | Incumbent | 8 years, 3 months | António Guterres | [22] | |
The bulk of peacekeeping operations funding is appropriated much like thegeneral budget, butpermanent members of the Security Council are required to pay a larger share, and all states are free to contribute additional funding, equipment, or other services to missions of their respective choices.[25][26]
UN Peacekeeping Operations budget for the fiscal year 1 July 2021 - 30 June 2022 amounted for $6.38 billion. This amount financed 10 of the 12 ongoingUN peacekeeping missions, along the liquidation of the UN African Union Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) and logistics support for the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), providing the technology, logistics and general support to all peace operations through global service centres inBrindisi (Italy) and a regional service centre inEntebbe (Uganda).
The UN Truce Supervision Organisation (UNTSO) and the UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) are excluded from the Peacekeeping Operations budget and are financed through the regular UN budget.
The top 5 providers of assessed contributions to the UN Peacekeeping Operations budget for 2020-2021 were: United States (27.89%), China (15.21%), Japan (8.56%), Germany (6.09%), and United Kingdom (5.79%).
