Budget Crisis Forces Withdrawal of Over 1,300 Bangladeshi Peacekeepers from UN Missions

The global financial strain on the United Nations (UN) peacekeeping budget has triggered the impending withdrawal of a substantial contingent of Bangladeshi peacekeepers, one of the world's largest troop contributing countries. At least 1,313 Bangladeshi peacekeepers are set to be repatriated from five missions over the next nine months as the UN implements emergency cost cutting measures, according to diplomatic sources.

The withdrawal stems from a 15 percent budget cut to peacekeeping operations mandated by UN Secretary General António Guterres to address a critical funding shortfall. According to Prothom Alo, a high level source from the Bangladesh government in Dhaka confirmed that the country's permanent mission in New York had been informed of the plan to reduce the allocation for uniformed personnel across UN peacekeeping missions. This reduction in available funds necessitates a significant drop in the number of peacekeepers deployed on the ground.

The UN's financial woes are largely attributed to the reduced financial support from major member states, particularly the United States, which is the single largest donor to the peacekeeping budget. The UN had planned for a total peacekeeping budget of $5.4 billion for 2025-26, but reports indicate a large part of the expected US contribution has been withheld, contributing to the massive shortfall. This funding crisis is forcing the UN to cut roughly one fourth of its global peacekeeping forces across nine missions, with an estimated 13,000 to 14,000 troops and police personnel facing repatriation worldwide.

The move has drawn attention to the complex challenges facing UN operations. While the budget cuts pose a direct blow to Bangladesh's long standing role as a cornerstone of global peacekeeping. Earlier, Human Rights Watch (HRW) had pointed to the vulnerabilities within the system, urging the UN to enhance the human rights screening process for all Bangladeshi troops to ensure those implicated in abuses at home are not deployed with UN missions abroad. However, the current withdrawal is a direct consequence of financial necessity rather than operational or rights based concerns. As the International Crisis Group warned, the decline of the UN "corrodes a buffer keeping many armed conflicts from worsening," underscoring that the budget crisis impacts global stability far beyond a single country's troop contribution.

See our previous article on the UN budget crisis.

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