UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan has called for strengthening United Nations peace operations to ensure their effectiveness and implementation, stressing that reform must not result in weakening or hollowing out the mandates of UN peacekeeping missions.
Speaking at a UN Secretary-General’s briefing on the Review on the Future of All Forms of UN Peace Operations, Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, said the review comes at a critical juncture, as conflicts become more numerous and complex while the United Nations faces shrinking resources, rising expectations and the need for continued reform.
Ambassador Iftikhar Ahmad stated that, as a longstanding and leading supporter of UN peacekeeping, Pakistan considers peacekeeping to be the most visible and vital instrument available to the United Nations for maintaining international peace and security.
While emphasising that peacekeeping cannot substitute for political processes, the Pakistani envoy noted that UN peace operations have, in many situations, created the conditions necessary for political solutions by supporting ceasefires, protecting civilians and monitoring fragile peace arrangements.
Welcoming the report’s emphasis on peace-making, conflict prevention and the peaceful settlement of disputes, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad said these principles are firmly anchored in Chapter VI of the UN Charter. He stressed that peacekeeping and peace-making should be viewed as mutually reinforcing elements.
Statement by Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad,
Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the UN,
At Secretary General’s Briefing on Review of the Future of All Forms of UN Peace Operations
(26 August 2026)
*******Madam Chair,
Pakistan aligns itself with the statement delivered by… pic.twitter.com/9pXRYQ1UsN
— Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the UN (@PakistanUN_NY) August 27, 2026
Referring to situations where political processes have stalled, the Pakistani envoy called for the Secretary-General’s good offices, proactive engagement by the Security Council and other diplomatic efforts to be deployed with greater urgency to restore political momentum towards peace and settlement.
Addressing the report’s recommendations, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad emphasised that these should be considered primarily in the spirit of making UN action more effective and should not be selectively interpreted in ways that weaken the mandates of peace operations.
“The benchmark should not be how mandates can be reduced, but how their efficiency can be improved and their implementation strengthened,” he stressed.
He emphasised that “reform must strengthen peace operations, not hollow them out.” While efficiency should be enhanced and duplication reduced, cost-cutting should not become the central logic of reform. Peacekeeping, he emphasised, is a global public good that requires adequate resources and sustained political support from the Security Council and the wider UN membership.
The Pakistan Permanent Representative further highlighted that UN peace operations are a collective responsibility requiring close consultation and coordination among the Security Council, General Assembly and its C34, the UN Secretariat, host countries, troop- and police-contributing countries, and other relevant stakeholders.
He also welcomed the report’s recognition of the importance of accountability for crimes against UN peacekeepers, including through the implementation of Security Council resolution 2823.
