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Preventing War, Supporting Peace

UN peacekeeping remains one of the world’s most effective tools for conflict stabilization, helping countries navigate the difficult path from war to peace. Backed by international legitimacy and personnel from around the globe, the 11 missions currently deployed protect civilians, reduce violence and create the conditions for political solutions to take hold.

Every mission is authorized by the UN Security Council, meaning none move forward without U.S. backing. What’s more, study after study shows peacekeeping reduces civilian deaths, displacement and refugee flows — outcomes that directly affect regional stability and U.S. interests. And at roughly one-eighth the cost of comparable U.S. military operations, without American troops on the ground, peacekeeping is a cost-effective way to prevent crises from spiraling into far costlier interventions.

Visit the UN peacekeeping website

The Value of Peacekeeping

Peacekeeping is often at the center of debates over funding. But did you know it accounts for just one-half of one percent of global military spending — while keeping U.S. boots off the ground? In a world shaped by instability and rising geopolitical tensions, hear why peacekeeping remains one of the smartest investments in global security.
Globe

11

peacekeeping missions currently operate worldwide

Helmet

66K

uniformed personnel are presently deployed

Handshake

121

countries provide troops and police, reflecting unmatched global burden-sharing

Growth

4x

every U.S. dollar invested is matched fourfold by the rest of the world

Tank

0.5%

peacekeeping accounts for 0.5 percent of global military spending

Savings

8x

peacekeeping is eight times more cost-effective than deploying similar U.S. missions

THE UN TOOLKIT FOR PEACE AND SECURITY

Peacekeeping may be the most visible face of the UN’s work on peace and security, but it’s only part of a much larger toolkit designed to make political solutions possible. By helping protect civilians, support elections, uphold the rule of law and lower the risk of violence, the UN creates the space diplomacy needs to work — bringing together peacekeeping, mediation, disarmament, justice and peacebuilding efforts in pursuit of lasting stability.

  • Ceasefire Monitoring

    Peacekeepers observe ceasefires, document violations and help mediate between parties. Their impartial presence allows for monitoring of demilitarized zones, territorial arrangements and cessation-of-hostilities agreements.

    Curious how ceasefires differ from cessation-of-hostilities? Learn more.

  • Election Security and Assistance

    Elections are often pivotal moments in post-conflict transitions. At the request of governments, the UN provides technical assistance, security coordination and international observation. Since 1991, the UN has assisted 118 countries with elections.

  • Human Rights Monitoring

    In some of the world’s most repressive crisis zones, UN reporting is often the only credible public record of abuses. Peacekeepers support early-warning systems, advise on institutional reform and provide evidence to the Security Council.

  • Protection of Civilians

    Protecting civilians is a central element of modern peacekeeping mandates. In fact, more than 95 percent of peacekeepers today are explicitly tasked with protection of civilians, guided by strict principles that recognize government’s primary responsibility while authorizing peacekeepers to act when authorities are unwilling or unable to do so.

Current Missions

Western Sahara

MINURSO

MINURSO monitors the 1991 ceasefire between Morocco and the Polisario Front over Western Sahara’s unresolved status following Spanish decolonization, and supports the political process to determine whether the territory integrates with Morocco or achieves independence. A return to open conflict would draw in Algeria, which backs the Polisario Front, risking broader regional destabilization.

CAR

MINUSCA

MINUSCA protects civilians, supports humanitarian delivery and backs the democratic transition in the Central African Republic, where successive governments, rebel militias and external forces have sustained a prolonged civil war. State collapse in CAR would create conditions for extremist entrenchment and criminal network expansion with direct destabilizing consequences for the broader region. With more than 14,000 personnel, MINUSCA is one of the UN’s largest missions.
DRC

MONUSCO

MONUSCO monitors and supports the peace process following the Second Congo War, also known as Africa’s World War, which unfolded in the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide, which drew Rwanda, Uganda, Angola, Zimbabwe, Sudan and other African nations into one of the world’s deadliest wars since World War II. The mission protects civilians, supports the Congolese government and consolidates peace in the country’s eastern provinces, which hold some of the world’s largest rare earth mineral deposits.
UNDOF

UNDOF

UNDOF monitors the ceasefire that ended the 1973 Yom Kippur War, patrolling a 235-square-kilometer demilitarized buffer zone in the Golan Heights. Its presence upholds the regional security framework where the borders of where Syria, Israel and Lebanon converge. The mission has maintained stability along the front line despite repeated surrounding instability.

Cyprus

UNFICYP

UNFICYP maintains a ceasefire and buffer zone across Cyprus, where a post-independence constitutional crisis, intercommunal violence, a Greek-backed coup and a Turkish military invasion left the island divided. The mission supervises ceasefire lines, supports peacebuilding and stabilizes the relationship between two NATO allies.

UNIFIL

UNIFIL

UNIFIL monitors the cessation of hostilities that ended the 2006 Lebanon war, supports Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) deployment into the south and facilitates humanitarian access. The mission cannot forcibly disarm armed groups or coerce parties, and LAF deployment remains constrained by the Lebanese state’s limited financial and military capacity. Without UNIFIL, no independent party would observe and report cross-border violations or maintain humanitarian access during flare-ups.

Abyei

UNISFA

UNISFA monitors the disputed, resource-rich Abyei region on the Sudan-South Sudan border, supporting demilitarization, protecting civilians and facilitating humanitarian access. The area is a recurring flashpoint for rapid escalation, driven by competing claims over land, water and shrinking grazing resources, with spillover risk that attracts broader regional interest between East Africa and the Sahel region to the west.

UNMIK

UNMIK

UNMIK supports security, human rights and intercommunal reconciliation in Kosovo following the breakup of Yugoslavia, the Kosovo War and the subsequent transfer of governing authority to Kosovar institutions. The mission originally held full executive and legislative authority in the territory and played a foundational role in its democratic transition, though its footprint has narrowed significantly as Kosovar institutions have matured.

UNMISS

UNMISS

UNMISS protects civilians, supports humanitarian delivery, monitors human rights and backs implementation of the peace agreement in South Sudan. The mission’s core deterrence function is preventing localized violence in heavily fractured regions from escalating into civil war or broader regional instability.

UNMOGIP

India and Pakistan

UNMOGIP monitors the ceasefire line in Jammu and Kashmir established after the 1947 India-Pakistan war, reporting on conditions along the Line of Control between two nuclear-armed states.
UNTSO

UNTSO

UNTSO is the UN’s oldest peacekeeping operation, established during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war and now serving as the command and logistical backbone for UNDOF and UNIFIL. Headquartered in Jerusalem, its unarmed military observers deploy on short notice across Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, providing impartial third-party presence along some of the region’s most contested borders.

UN PKO Women

Women in Peacekeeping

Women serve across peacekeeping missions as military, police and civilian personnel — making up around 23% of all those deployed in roles ranging from civilian protection to political affairs, logistics and communications. Their presence consistently improves mission effectiveness by expanding access to communities, supporting survivors of gender-based violence, strengthening situational awareness and building trust with local populations.

The UN has made meaningful progress increasing gender parity, but women remain underrepresented in military contingents, where more work with Member States is needed.

Learn how the UN is advancing women in peacekeeping.