Since 1948, more than two million peacekeepers have served in 71 missions around the world, working to prevent violence, protect civilians, and create conditions for lasting peace. Behind each of these peacekeepers are the UN Security Council and UN Member States: Security Council members establish missions and set their objectives, while Member States provide the resources to deliver on those goals. Every Member State contributes financially to peacekeeping, with many also providing additional, voluntary contributions.
Bringing Member States together to strengthen peacekeeping
Ministerials help mobilize these voluntary contributions. Held roughly every two years, they bring together senior officials from Member States who pledge support to peacekeeping missions that help strengthen the effectiveness of UN peacekeeping missions and improve the safety of peacekeepers. They help missions secure new or improved capabilities, as well as high-level political support from Member States.
Pledges can take many forms, such as specialized troops and police, equipment, and training. They can also pledge their political support to peace processes, which can be critical in generating momentum towards ceasefires, peace agreements, and other non-violent resolutions to conflict.
The impact of pledges
Peacekeeping Ministerials have helped missions fill persistent capability gaps, address performance issues, and have helped establish a reserve of units that can be deployed to any peacekeeping mission with only 60 days’ notice, letting us send additional and specialized units to reinforce missions when needed in an emergency or start up a new mission more quickly.
Past commitments have helped strengthen peacekeeping in countries like Cote d’Ivoire and Liberia and are supporting ongoing peace efforts in places like South Sudan, Lebanon, and Cyprus. These contributions ensure peacekeeping missions have access to the new or improved capabilities they need to respond to rapidly changing conflicts and defend against spoilers that are using the latest tools and technologies to wage war.
Through their joint efforts, peacekeeping missions, Member States, and their partners are transforming millions of lives.
Next Ministerial: Germany 2025
The 2025 Peacekeeping Ministerial will be held from 13 to 14 May in Berlin, Germany. It will focus on the future of peacekeeping, bolstering peacekeeper capabilities, and effectively adapting operations to current and emerging challenges.
Past Ministerials
The first UN Peacekeeping Ministerial was held in 2016, following the 2015 Leaders’ Summit on Peacekeeping, which was convened by the United States. The Summit aimed to revitalize international support for UN peacekeeping, and the Ministerial meetings were established to maintain that momentum.
Since then, UN Peacekeeping Ministerials have been held regularly, hosted by different countries:
- 2023 – Ghana (Accra)
- 2021 – South Korea (Seoul)
- 2019 – United Nations Headquarters (New York)
- 2017 – Canada (Vancouver)
- 2016 – United Kingdom (London)
- 2015 – United States (New York)
- 2014 - Leaders’ Summit on Peacekeeping (New York)