Pakistan warns UN against weakening peacekeeping after 10pc budget cut
Ambassador Syed Haider Shah told the General Assembly's Fourth Committee that the $5.1 billion set for 2026-27 should sharpen missions, not strip their capabilities.
Pakistan's permanent representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Syed Haider Shah, told the General Assembly's Fourth Committee on Friday that financial constraints must not be allowed to weaken UN peacekeeping, arguing that savings should improve missions rather than hollow them out.
The intervention came after the General Assembly approved a $5.1 billion peacekeeping budget for 2026-27, about 10 per cent below the previous year's allocation. A funding squeeze last year forced the UN to trim mission spending and repatriate around a quarter of its uniformed personnel.
Speaking at the Fourth Committee of the 81st session, Shah said the Security Council needed the political will to use peacekeeping when circumstances demanded it. "What is needed is the political will in the Security Council to use this important instrument when circumstances require," he told the committee, according to Minute Mirror's account of the session.
He argued that political objectives should set a mission's mandate first, with personnel, equipment and funding allocated afterwards, rather than financial ceilings deciding what a mission can do on the ground. "Efficiency and cost reduction must therefore strengthen peacekeeping, not hollow out the capabilities that give UN peacekeeping its unique value," he said.
Pakistan set out six priorities for the secretary-general's review: putting political solutions first, clearly defined and adequately funded mandates, protecting the institutional strengths of peacekeeping, preparing for future military and police requirements, improving the safety of personnel and keeping peacekeeping a shared UN responsibility.
Pakistan is among the largest and longest-serving contributors to UN missions. More than 170,000 Pakistani military and police personnel have served over six decades, and 183 have been killed under the UN flag. Pakistan also hosts the UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan.
Shah pressed for accountability for crimes against peacekeepers. Pakistan and Denmark led work on Security Council Resolution 2823, adopted unanimously with a record 153 co-sponsors, which seeks to strengthen accountability for attacks on UN personnel. He welcomed the secretary-general's first report on the subject and the appointment of Assistant Secretary-General Elizabeth Spehar as senior focal point, and called for stronger investigations, prosecutions, case monitoring and support for national institutions.
He described the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations, known as C-34, as the main intergovernmental forum for shaping policy, and closed by saying the instrument would be needed again. "Peacekeeping remains a vital, effective and cost-efficient means for ensuring peace and security. We will need this instrument again. We should ensure that it is ready when we do," he said.
How the reports differ
Minute Mirror and Daily Times both named Ambassador Syed Haider Shah as the speaker and placed his remarks before the Fourth Committee of the 81st General Assembly session; Dawn's account of the warning named neither the envoy nor the committee. Minute Mirror carried his direct quotations, including the line on Security Council political will and the warning that cost cuts must not hollow out peacekeeping. Daily Times presented the same ground in paraphrase and foregrounded the $5.1 billion figure and the six priority areas. Ua.News published a short rewrite crediting Dawn's headline and added no reporting of its own.
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