(Stockholm, 27 May 2020) While the number of United Nations and non-UN multilateral peace operations increased slightly in 2019, the number of personnel deployed in them decreased, according to new data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). Although sub-Saharan Africa maintained the highest number of operations and personnel, two new operations in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) may signal a shift in regional focus. Meanwhile, the data indicates that fatality rates were low in all UN peace operations except for the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA). Ahead of International Day of UN Peacekeepers on 29 May, the updated data on multilateral peace operations is now accessible at www.sipri.org.
There were 61 multilateral peace operations in 2019, one more than the previous year.
The data shows that the number of personnel in multilateral peace operations—including military, police and international civilian personnel—decreased by 4.8 per cent from 31 December 2018 to 31 December 2019. All of the 10 largest operations either kept a similar number of personnel or diminished in size during 2019.
‘The decreasing personnel numbers can be explained by reductions in and closures of a number of larger operations in recent years, while successor or newly established operations tend to be smaller and more political in character,’ says Dr Jaïr van der Lijn, Director of the SIPRI Peace Operations and Conflict Management Programme.
Peace operations decreased in sub-Saharan Africa, increased in MENA
The number of personnel deployed in sub-Saharan Africa decreased by 5.8 per cent in 2019. However, sub-Saharan Africa still accounted for 71 per cent of all peace operation personnel. ‘The number of personnel in multilateral peace operations in sub-Saharan Africa peaked in 2015 and has been decreasing ever since; in 2019 it fell below 100 000 for the first time since early 2013,’ says Timo Smit, Researcher with the SIPRI Peace Operations and Conflict Management Programme. ‘This has been offset by a notable increase in regional and international counterterrorism operations, particularly in the Sahel and Lake Chad Basin regions.’
While sub-Saharan Africa maintained the highest number of peace operations and personnel overall, the data indicates a slight shift in attention towards MENA. With two new peace operations in 2019, MENA was the only region to see an increase in personnel (4.7 per cent).
The UN mission in Mali continues to be the deadliest
Since its establishment in 2013, MINUSMA has experienced a relatively high number of hostile deaths among its personnel. However, most other UN peace operations suffer relatively few hostile deaths.
‘Excluding MINUSMA, the picture changes significantly,’ says Dr van der Lijn. ‘In fact, MINUSMA stands out because of its close links to international counterterrorism strategies in the Sahel. Other operations remain closer to the traditional principles of peacekeeping—impartiality, consent of the parties and non-use of force except in self-defence—and, therefore, also meet less violent resistance.’
There were 28 personnel fatalities attributed to malicious acts in UN peace operations in 2019, one more than the previous year. Of these hostile deaths, 23 were uniformed personnel—of which all but one were deployed with MINUSMA.
Other notable developments
- Top troop-contributing countries to UN and non-UN multilateral peace operations: Ethiopia continued to be the top contributor of military personnel. The United States was the second-largest contributor and the only country in the Global North represented in the top 10 of troop-contributing countries. The USA contributed few military personnel to UN peace operations and participated primarily in non-UN operations. The remaining top 10 contributors were located in sub-Saharan Africa (Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda) and South Asia (Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan). Overall, the top 10 contributors accounted for half of all military personnel deployed as of 31 December 2019.
- Largest multilateral peace operations: The three largest multilateral peace operations in 2019 were the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s Resolute Support Mission (RSM) in Afghanistan. AMISOM continued to be the largest by a notable margin, consisting of 20 370 military, police and international civilian personnel as of 31 December 2019.
- Women’s representation in UN peace operations: While the number of personnel serving in all UN peace operations decreased in 2019, the number and proportion of women deployed in them increased. On 31 December 2019, women accounted for 5.3 per cent of military personnel and 15 per cent of police personnel, compared to 4.2 per cent and 13 per cent, respectively, in the previous year.
For editors
According to SIPRI’s definition, a multilateral peace operation must have the stated intention of: (a) serving as an instrument to facilitate the implementation of peace agreements already in place, (b) supporting a peace process or (c) assisting conflict prevention or peacebuilding efforts. Good offices, fact-finding or electoral assistance missions and missions comprising non-resident individuals or teams of negotiators are not included. Operations consisting of armed forces operating primarily within their national territory, such as the Multinational Joint Task Force against Boko Haram and the Joint Force of the Group of Five for the Sahel, are also not considered multilateral peace operations and, therefore, not included here. For an overview of all multilateral peace operations that were active in 2019, see Trends in Multilateral Peace Operations, 2019.
Data on multilateral peace operations is obtained from the following categories of open source: (a) official information provided by the secretariat of the organization concerned; (b) information provided by the operations themselves, either in official publications or in written responses to annual SIPRI questionnaires; and (c) information from national governments contributing to the operation under consideration.
In some instances, SIPRI researchers may gather additional information on an operation from the conducting organizations or governments of participating states by means of telephone interviews and email correspondence. These primary sources are supplemented by a wide selection of publicly available secondary sources consisting of specialist journals, research reports, news agencies, and international, regional and local newspapers.
All figures should be regarded as estimates and may be subject to adjustments as more complete data becomes available.
This is the last of the major data set pre-launches in the lead-up to the publication of SIPRI Yearbook 2020, SIPRI’s flagship publication to be published in mid-June 2020.
Media contacts
For information and interview requests contact SIPRI Communications Officer Alexandra Manolache (alexandra.manolache@sipri.org, +46 766 286 133) or SIPRI Communications Director Stephanie Blenckner (blenckner@sipri.org, +46 8 655 97 47).