The UN will begin to reduce their peaceful forces and operations in the next few months as a result of the reduction of the United States, a higher UN official said on Wednesday. Thousands of soldiers and police staff deployed in conflict zones around the world are expected to affect this step.
An unnamed official, quoted by the Associated Press, said that this step came as a result of his largest US donor and made changes in accordance with President Donald Trump’s US pressure.
25% of the labor force to be affected
UN plans to release around 25% of its global labor force. This means that around 13,000 to 14,000 military and police staff from more than 50,000 currently deployed on nine global missions will be asked to go home.
The UN office in Somalia will also face cuts, as the world authority plans to reduce about 15% of the $ 5.4 billion budget for next year.
The head official warned that the budget reduction would affect all areas of UN operations, including both civilian and uniformed staff. Although it is not clear when and how civilian staff will be influenced, the clerk said that the impact would be significant.
The UN peace missions are currently operating in Congo, the Central African Republic, South Sudan, Lebanon, Cyprus and Kosovo.
Why do the US reduce the UN budget?
Donald Trump officials have claimed in recent weeks that UN budget and agencies have been inflated and redundant. They said they wouldn’t make any other voluntary or involuntary contributions until the US Foreign Ministry has evaluated the efficiency of each UN agency and the UN program.
Last week, US Ambassador with Mike Waltz said in a television interview that the US is focusing on “the UN returns to the basics of peace promotion, promotion of peace, prevention of wars”.
He added, “We have to cut all these other nonsense.”
The decision to introduce the main reworking of peace forces, distinctive blue berets or staff wearing a helmet comes after a meeting between the UN Secretary -General Antonio Guterres and representatives of the main donor countries, including Mike Waltz, the new US Ambassador to the UN.
UN Peace Operations grew dramatically. At the end of the Cold War at the beginning of the 90s. Until 2014, there were 1,30,000 in 16 distant peace operations. Today, about 52,000 men and women serve in 11 conflict areas in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East.
Contributions from the US and China make up half of the UN Peace Budget.
(Tagstotranslate) Un Funding Cuts (T) US Budget Cuts (T) Un Layoffs (T) Donald Trump Un
