The UN Peacekeeping Chiefs Workshop concluded in Abu Dhabi on Thursday after four days of intensive discussions hosted by the UAE Ministry of Interior, the Emirates News Agency reported. The event brought together police and military component chiefs from United Nations peacekeeping missions around the world along with UN representatives. Topics included challenges facing UN police, outcomes from the UN Chiefs of Police Summit, knowledge management, permanent police capabilities and standards for performance assessment of both units and individual officers.
According to the Emirates News Agency, participants also reviewed emergency planning, reporting mechanisms, budgeting processes, ammunition management and approaches to responsive and gender-sensitive policing. The workshop enabled chiefs from different missions to exchange experiences and focused on strengthening coordination between police and military elements in operations. Colonel Saeed Al Dhaheri, police attaché at the UAE Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York, highlighted the gathering’s role in bolstering cooperation between the UAE and the UN while supporting international peace and security.
The UAE Ministry of Interior organized the sessions from August 31 as part of ongoing partnership with the United Nations to enhance peacekeeping performance and response to security and humanitarian challenges. UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan received participants during the workshop, underscoring the country’s commitment to global peace efforts, a YouTube channel covering the event noted. Such gatherings come as the UN undertakes a review of all forms of peace operations requested under the Pact for the Future with recommendations submitted to the General Assembly and Security Council in August 2026.
United Nations data places the number of active peacekeeping missions at 11 with around 53,000 personnel deployed from 117 countries and a combined budget of $5.66 billion, a peacekeeping.un.org overview found. Nepal, Rwanda, Bangladesh, India and Pakistan rank as the largest contributors, while African nations supply nearly half the total uniformed personnel. The Abu Dhabi workshop aligns with broader efforts to adapt operations amid declining deployment numbers that reached 78,633 across multilateral peace operations in 2025 according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
Discussions during the event built on lessons from the 2025 United Nations Peacekeeping Ministerial held in Germany that drew more than 1,000 participants from 135 member states and generated 642 pledges. A subsequent progress report on Action for Peacekeeping documented advances in training and capacity building including 597 personnel trained through the Triangular Partnership Program. Officials at the Abu Dhabi sessions examined how to integrate these developments into field practices to improve mission effectiveness.
The four-day program concluded with an emphasis on addressing operational hurdles in an environment where conflicts have reached their highest level since 1945 and new threats from technologies such as drones have increased risks to peacekeepers, the Department of Peace Operations assessment indicated. Participants left with reinforced networks for future collaboration on budgeting, planning and gender-responsive approaches across missions. The UAE has participated in multiple UN peacekeeping operations over the years, contributing to the more than two million individuals who have served under the UN flag since 1948.
