Global Peace Missions at Risk as Funding Crisis and Political Will Collapse, SIPRI Warns

The Global South provided the bulk of uniformed peacekeepers. Uganda led with 4,657 personnel, followed by Nepal with 4,299 and Bangladesh with 4,275. The United Nations remained the single largest organizer of peace operations, running 18 missions and supplying one-third of all international forces.

A Shrinking Presence

At the same time, the missions face a deepening liquidity crisis. Because member states paid their assessed contributions late or not at all, the UN had to cut spending on peace operations by 15 percent. By July 2025, the shortfall had reached two billion US dollars – more than 35 percent of the total 5.6-billion-dollar budget for the 2024–2025 cycle.

SIPRI researcher Claudia Pfeifer Cruz pointed to a fundamental lack of commitment. “Im Grunde sind die Staaten einfach weniger bereit, in Friedensmissionen zu investieren – sowohl finanziell als auch politisch,” she said. Negotiations in the bodies that authorize or extend mandates had also become more difficult.

The Money Crisis

The United States, the largest financial contributor, failed to pay its agreed assessments for peacekeeping, Pfeifer Cruz noted. “Die Liquiditätskrise der UNO wurde auch dadurch verursacht, dass die USA die vereinbarten Beiträge für die Friedenssicherung nicht bezahlt haben,” she said. Other major donors such as China also paid late or not at all.

In late January 2026, UN Secretary-General António Guterres sounded the alarm about a possible “finanziellen Zusammenbruch” (financial collapse) of the organization if member states did not pay immediately. For the 2025/2026 financing period, the General Assembly approved the lowest peacekeeping budget in ten years.

The political headwinds are equally strong. The United States, citing frequent violations of the 2024 ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, pushed for the closure of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). In a compromise, the Security Council voted to extend the mission one final time, through December 2026.

Political Pushback

Among the ten largest peace operations globally last year, six were in Africa, three in Europe (Kosovo, Moldova, and Bosnia and Herzegovina), and one in the Middle East (Lebanon). "Das hat also bereits Konsequenzen," Pfeifer Cruz said. "Und wenn ganze Missionen beendet werden müssen, bleiben manche Konflikte einfach sich selbst überlassen."

Jaïr van der Lijn, director of SIPRI’s Peace Operations and Conflict Management program, warned that the cumulative effect of financial, political and geopolitical factors could be devastating. “Wenn es so weitergeht, könnte es zu einer dramatischen Schwächung der multilateralen Konfliktbewältigung und zu einer fast vollständigen Marginalisierung von Institutionen wie den Vereinten Nationen kommen, bedingt durch das Zusammenspiel von finanziellen, politischen und geopolitischen Faktoren,” he said.

Expert Voices

Van der Lijn added that abandoning long-established norms would probably produce more conflicts with graver human costs. “Die Folge dürften mehr Konflikte sein, und diese Konflikte werden wahrscheinlich noch schwerwiegendere Auswirkungen auf die Zivilbevölkerung haben, da Staaten seit langem etablierte Normen aufgeben,” he said. An English version of the report underlined: “The result is likely to be more conflicts and these conflicts are likely to have even graver impacts on civilians as states abandon long-established norms.”

Despite the grim trends, Pfeifer Cruz believes peace missions will endure. “Ich glaube, dass sie weiterbestehen werden, nur vielleicht etwas kleiner und auf eine etwas andere Art als bisher,” she said. “Aber ich bin immer noch überzeugt, dass sie die beste Option zum Konfliktmanagement sind, die wir derzeit haben.”