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Joint Press Statement regarding the Peacekeeping Ministerial in Berlin
Joint Press Statement regarding the Peacekeeping Ministerial by the Federal Foreign Office and the Federal Ministry of Defence
Peacekeeping is one of the most effective and cost-effective instruments that the international community has at its disposal to help promote peace and security. Currently, around 70,000 men and women in eleven missions are striving to maintain stability for people who in many cases have been suffering for years under the impact of war and violence. And they do so with a budget that is smaller than that of the New York Police Department. Nevertheless, United Nations Peacekeeping is coming under increasing pressure – with regard to financing, acceptance and in connection with large-scale missions which are not always able to completely fulfil their mandate. In a world full of crises and conflicts, we need the UN peace missions more than ever. Therefore, we want to tackle these challenges.
The UN Peacekeeping Ministerial is the most important conference for generating support for UN peacekeeping operations. They require funds, material and equipment as well as civilian, police and military personnel. At Germany’s invitation, representatives from more than 130 countries will come together to make concrete pledges. Germany will likewise make additional funds available.
Not only do we need to ensure that peacekeeping has sufficient resources. We also need to talk about how future UN peace missions could be better structured. At the instigation of Germany, the countries at this conference will therefore, for the first time, also discuss the future of peacekeeping. The focus will be on reforms and on how UN missions could be better tailored and more adaptable to often evolving situations on the ground. By tailoring peace missions more closely to the actual needs of the countries in which they are deployed, we seek to boost their effectiveness and their acceptance.
Germany is the fourth-largest financial contributor to peacekeeping and the UN system. That is another reason why we enjoy the trust of the international community, and that is also why more than 130 countries have accepted our invitation to Berlin. The fact that Germany is hosting the Peacekeeping Ministerial in Berlin is a clear sign of Germany’s determination to continue to assume responsibility for peace and security within the United Nations.
Statement by Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul in the run-up to the conference:
The United Nations was founded to maintain peace and security in the world. Across the globe, courageous UN peacekeepers are defending the rules of our common UN Charter. The large number of conflicts means that UN-Peacekeeping is more important than it has ever been. Yet the challenges, too, are greater than ever before. Together with German Defence Minister Pistorius, I am therefore grateful that the international community has accepted our invitation to the Peacekeeping Ministerial in Berlin. The discussions there will centred on the question of what needs to be done to ensure that the world can continue to be able to rely on UN peacekeepers as the face and the arm of the UN.
Statement by Minister of Defence Boris Pistorius in the run-up to the conference:
Even if Germany is focusing more on national and collective defence in the current European threat environment: We are determined to strengthen UN peacekeeping missions worldwide. Germany continues to participate in blue helmet missions. Unique to our approach is that we support other troop contributors in helping them build up their own capabilities. That means we provide training - not only in Germany, but also in mission. We provide support with material and help, for example, with setting up field hospitals, mobile command posts or dealing with Improvised Explosive Devices. We thereby contribute to the professional deployment of blue helmets on the ground. I am delighted that we are coming together in Berlin 80 years after the end of the Second World War to discuss Peacekeeping and to initiate necessary reforms.
Background
- On 13 and 14 May 2025, the Federal Foreign Office and the Federal Ministry of Defence will, together with the UN, be co-hosting the United Nations Peacekeeping Ministerial in Berlin. Delegations from more than 130 countries will participate. UN Secretary-General António Guterres is also expected to attend.
- Currently, just under 70,000 UN peacekeepers from 120 countries are serving in eleven United Nations peace missions. Of these, some 55,000 are military personnel, some 1100 are civilian experts and some 6000 are police officers.
- The three largest UN peace missions are MINUSCA in the Central African Republic (approx. 17,000 personnel), UNMISS in South Sudan (approx. 15,500 personnel) and MONUSCO in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (approx. 12,000 personnel).
- Some 300 German Bundeswehr soldiers are presently deployed and serving in the UN operations MINURSO in Western Sahara, UNMISS in South Sudan and UNIFIL in Lebanon. The UN’s UNIFIL mission is being supported by a German Maritime Task Force vessel, among other things.
- Germany is currently contributing a total of 13 police officers to UN peace missions: to UNMIK in Kosovo (1), UNMISS in South Sudan (8) and UNFICYP in Cyprus (4). The Center for International Peace Operations has one deployed staff member serving in UNMISS in South Sudan Sudan and one serving in UNTMIS in Somalia.
- The overall budget for UN peacekeeping operations this fiscal year (1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025) amounts to USD 5.59 billion. With a share of 5.7%, Germany is the fourth-largest contributor, after the United States, China and Japan. In recent years, Germany has been the largest provider of voluntary contributions.
- According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), in 2024, global military expenditure amounted to USD 2.718 trillion. This means that expenditure on UN peace missions is equivalent to a mere 0.5% of global military expenditure. Consequently, United Nations Peacekeeping is one of the most cost-efficient means of addressing conflicts.
- Since UN Peacekeeping was established in 1948, the UN has carried out more than 70 Blue Helmet missions.
- In the 1970s, the German Bundeswehr supported UNEF II in the Middle East and UNIFIL in Lebanon. Since 1991, it has participated in the following UN peacekeeping operations: UNAMIC/UNTAC in Cambodia (1991 -1993), UNOSOM II in Somalia (1993-1994), UNOMIG in Georgia (1994-2009), UNAMIR in Rwanda (1994), UNPROFOR in the former Yugoslavia (1995), UNMEE in Ethiopia and Eritrea (2004-2008), UNMISS in Sudan (2005-2011), UNMIL in Liberia (2015-2016), UNAMID in Darfur (2008-2020), MINUSMA in Mali (2013-2023), UNIFIL in Lebanon (2006-today), UNMISS in South Sudan (2011-today), MINURSO in Western Sahara (2013-today).
- Germany has prepared military personnel from more than 100 countries for their deployment as UN peacekeepers, through training courses at the Bundeswehr United Nations Training Centre in Hammelburg, at the Federal Armed Forces Command and Staff College and with Bundeswehr Mobile Training Teams, for example.
- Germany is committed to improving the rescue chain in the context of operations, enhancing the provision of mental health care and making available better first aid equipment.
- Germany provides support for the employment of reconnaissance drones and transport drones for medical logistical purposes.
- Germany equips UN missions with systems to generate renewable energy, in order to reduce logistical dependencies and to save fuel.
- Germany provides bilateral support to the troop contributors Ghana, Indonesia, Jordan, Kenya, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania and Tunisia with regard to explosive-ordnance disposal, communications, drones, IED detection and disposal, mobile command posts and medical services.