As U.S. Looks to Cut Funding to UN Peacekeeping, UN Ups Peacekeeping Budget by $80 Million

The UN wants to increase the budget for UN peacekeeping, despite calls by the U.S. - the biggest single contributor to UN peacekeeping - to cut funding to the body. U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley has made a priority of cutting the UN peacekeeping budget, and is reviewing the value and efficiency of peacekeeping missions. The Trump administration is reportedly seeking $1 billion in cuts to peacekeeping. But according to a statement by Maria Costa, Director of the Peacekeeping Financing Division of the Department of Management's Office of Programme, Planning, Budget and Accounts, the UN is proposing to increase the budget for peacekeeping by $82 million in 2017-2018. Costa's request to increase the scandal-plagued body's revenue was made at a meeting of the Fifth Committee, the UN General Assembly's budgetary committee, on May 9, 2017.

According to the UN's press release of the meeting:

"Introducing the Secretary-General's overview report on the financing of United Nations peacekeeping operations during those periods, Maria Costa, Director of the Peacekeeping Financing Division of the Department of Management's Office of Programme, Planning, Budget and Accounts, said proposed resources from 1 July 2017 to 30 June 2018 - during which the focus would remain on Africa and the Middle East - amounted to $7.97 billion, an increase of 1 per cent ($82.70 million) over 2016/17 that reflected higher military and police personnel costs. The representative of the United States - the biggest single contributor to the peacekeeping budget - emphasized the Committee's responsibility to ensure that Member States' investments in peacekeeping were used responsibly and delivered the intended results."