Geopolitical tensions and a funding crisis are jeopardising peacekeeping missions, particularly those under the auspices of the United Nations, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) warned on Monday.
Just under 79,000 international staff were deployed in international peacekeeping operations at the end of 2025, the lowest number in at least 25 years, the institute said in a report.
“If things continue in this way, we could see a dramatic weakening of multilateral conflict management and the near-complete sidelining of institutions like the United Nations, due to a perfect storm of funding, political and geopolitical factors,” Jair van der Lijn, director of SIPRI’s peace operations and conflict management programme, said in a statement.
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“The result is likely to be more conflicts and these conflicts are likely to have even graver impacts on civilians as states abandon long-established norms.”
A total of 58 peacekeeping operations were in place in 2025, dropping below the threshold of 60 for the first time since 2016.
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Nearly three-quarters of deployed staff were serving in five countries – Central African Republic, South Sudan, Somalia, Democratic Republic of Congo and Lebanon.
