Contributions for International Peacekeeping Activities

Description

U.S. contributions to U.N. peacekeeping activities help stabilize countries in conflict by protecting civilians from violence; facilitating humanitarian aid; disarming, demobilizing, and reintegrating former combatants; training local police forces to ensure law and order; and supporting free and fair elections. The U.N. Security Council, of which the United States is a veto-wielding permanent member, authorizes peacekeeping operations.

What does it buy?

The Contributions for International Peacekeeping Activities (CIPA) account funds the United States’ share of assessed expenses for 12 current U.N. peacekeeping operations spanning four continents. The current assessment rate for the U.S. is 27.89% of the U.N. peacekeeping budget.

Why is it important?

• Peacekeeping missions save American taxpayers money. A February 2018 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found that a U.N. operation is less than half the cost of deploying a comparable U.S. force.
• Research shows that peacekeeping supports civilian protection. One study examined monthly civilian death tolls from civil wars in sub-Saharan Africa over  15 years. The study found that in places where no peacekeeping troops were deployed, average monthly civilian deaths totaled 106. However, in instances where at least 8,000 U.N. troops were present, the average dropped by 98%.
• U.N. peacekeepers are currently advancing core U.S. national interests and values. In South Sudan, peacekeepers are protecting nearly 200,000 civilians who have fled a devastating civil war. In Mali, peacekeepers are preventing armed extremists, including groups linked to al-Qaeda, from extending their reach and overtaking population centers in the country’s north.
• U.N. peacekeepers are protecting civilians from armed groups in the Central African Republic, providing security and logistical support to health workers battling an Ebola outbreak that has killed hundreds in conflict-affected areas of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and preventing a flare-up of hostilities along the Israel-Lebanon border.

Why should Americans care?

• Countries in conflict are fertile ground for the growth of extremist groups and organized crime, threatening U.S. national security and economic interests. By undertaking a range of stabilization and protection measures, U.N. peacekeepers help avert the collapse of fragile states, prevent civil wars from metastasizing into full-blown regional conflicts, reduce forced displacement and refugee outflows, and decrease the likelihood that dormant conflicts will flare up anew.

What more could be done?

• An investment of $2.658 billion would allow the U.S. to pay its FY 2021 peacekeeping dues in full and its cap-related arrears. Between FY 2017-2020 the U.S. accrued almost $1 billion in arrears due to funding at the 25% statutory cap on contributions.
• The U.S. is currently assessed at 27.89% of the U.N. peacekeeping budget, a decrease from 2018. The U.S. supported this rate and should honor its commitment. Failure to pay arrears and pay at its agreed rate could undermine America’s ability to push for critical reforms at the U.N.
• When the U.S. paid its assessed share of the U.N.’s peacekeeping budget, the U.S. and U.N. worked together to achieve a number of critical reforms and efficiencies, initiating efforts that reduced the cost per peacekeeper by 18% and cut the number of support staff to save on administrative costs.
• Some countries—most notably China—supported a significant increase in their assessment rates. China more aggressively articulated its agenda at the U.N., including challenging some of the core human rights and civilian protection-related aspects of U.N. peacekeeping mandates.