By Amanda Wilson

High-level United Nations officials and advocates of U.S. involvement in U.N. peacekeeping initiatives in Washington this week urged lawmakers to continue and even ramp up support for the operations, which they say benefit U.S. security interests, protect civilians, and prevent failed states.

U.N. peacekeeping operations are carried out under mandates issued by the 15-member U.N. Security Council. The operations involve over 120,000 troops deployed in 15 missions on four continents.

The rallying cries came as Republican presidential candidates, as recently as a debate televised Tuesday night, launched repeated criticisms of U.S. funding for the U.N. and its operations ahead of the 2012 presidential election. The U.N.'s blue-helmeted peacekeeping troops have also faced criticism of misconduct in the past.

But defenders of U.N. peacekeeping operations, including advocates at two separate forums hosted by the Brookings Institute and The Partnership for Effective Peacekeeping (PEP), said this week that the U.N. has instituted reforms to make its missions more effective, transparent, and cost-conscious...

A report released by PEP, "U.S. Engagement in International Peacekeeping: From Aspiration to Implementation", laid out 26 recommendations to "enhance and increase U.S. involvement in international peacekeeping".

Those recommendations include full funding of U.S. contributions to U.N. peacekeeping missions, more "timely and cost-effective delivery of human and material resources to peacekeeping operations", and support for the Presidential Peacekeeping Initiative which lays out a possible plan for increasing the number of U.S. personnel sent to peacekeeping operations.

The report also recommends increased support from the department of defence to provide more women to peacekeeping missions to increase transparency and reduce sexual and gender-based violence - a step Kristen Cordell, a co-author of the report and advocate with Refugees International, said is proven to work. She said other countries were sending women to peacekeeping missions, and that the U.S. could do the same.

"We have an incredibly rich talent pool," she told IPS.

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