Pakistan Calls For Boosting UN Peacekeeping Missions' Role To Resolve Disputes, Sustain Ceasefires

UNITED NATIONS, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 10th Sep, 2025) Pakistan has called for strengthening and better equipping the United Nations peacekeeping to address the underlying causes of disputes, saying the missions must be designed with clear priorities, achievable tasks, and credible leadership.

"Missions should be empowered to sustain ceasefires, deter escalation, and foster dialogue, including through the Secretary-General’s good offices and preventive diplomacy," Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, permanent representative of Pakistan to the United Nations, told the UN Security Council on Tuesday.

Speaking in a debate on UN peace operations, held under South Korea's presidency, he voiced concern that peacekeeping, just like UN, was under siege, as it was starved of resources, constrained in mandates, and shrinking in presence.

"But", the Pakistani envoy said, "We cannot let one of multilateralism’s most effective tools be sidelined by inaction. We are all stakeholders in its success, and we must act to not only preserve but to make this instrument even more relevant and fit for purpose and fit for future - corresponding to the diverse challenges in the domain of peace and security."

Pakistani blue helmets, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, said had contributed and witnessed many of the UN peacekeeping's success stories, noting the strong support shown at the 2025 Berlin Peacekeeping Ministerial Conference. "Yet endorsement must translate into action."

In this regard, he called for confronting resource constraints.

"With a budget of just $5.4 billion - less than 0.2 percent of global military spending - peacekeeping remains the most cost-effective instrument of peace," the Pakistani envoy said. "Yet liquidity crisis and delayed payments erode credibility and create dangerous vacuums.

Assessed contributions must be paid in full and on time."

The protection of civilians must remain central, he stressed -- it is not optional, but both a moral duty and a strategic necessity. "Mandates must be strengthened, resourced, and backed by accountability of mission leadership."

Troop- and police-contributing countries, which shoulder the burden in the field, must not be excluded from crucial decisions, he said, and the safety and security of peacekeepers must be ensured. “Accountability to peacekeepers” must be real: attacks on them must be investigated and prosecuted to create deterrence.

Peacekeeping must evolve, not retreat, the Pakistani envoy said, adding that missions should responsibly adopt new technologies, address climate-related security risks, deploy more women peacekeepers, and engage local communities.

In conclusion, he said Pakistan has stood firmly with the United Nations in the cause of peacekeeping, hosting one of the oldest UN missions – the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) deployed in Jammu and Kashmir.

More than 250,000 Pakistanis have served in 48 missions, often in the most difficult environments, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad. The sacrifice of 182 Pakistani peacekeepers was a testament to Pakistan's commitment to the UN Charter and to multilateralism.

"We salute all the peacekeepers – past and present."

"The Security Council and the wider UN membership must provide their full political backing and adequate resources for this endeavour, which indeed is a test of our collective resolve to maintain international peace and security," he added.

APP/ift