State Dept. Must Act To Make UN Peacekeeping Operations More Effective - US Govt. Report

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 20th March, 2019) The US Department of State must take appropriate actions to improve United Nations peacekeeping operations and financial oversight, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report on Tuesday.

"Our review of Department of State assessments and discussions with State officials found that UN operations generally do not fully meet US principles for effective peacekeeping, such as obtaining host country consent," the report said.

The GAO noted that State Department officials also said they need better financial and performance information on these operations.

The report recommended the State Department take additional steps to ensure more effective UN operations and improve UN reporting on finances and performance.

"The United States... lacks sufficient information to determine if associated resources accurately reflect these adjustments. State officials noted that they do not have this information because UN peacekeeping budgets do not estimate costs by mandated task," the report said.

As of December 2018, the United Nations had 14 ongoing peacekeeping operations involving about 103,000 personnel. The United States is the single largest financial contributor to these operations, the GAO said.