From "Environmental Demands Grow for U.N. Peacekeeping Troops"

NY Times article By NATHANIAL GRONEWOLD, STAFF REPORTER of Greenwire

Last week, the Security Council held a debate on the state of peacekeeping since it was first conceived some 60 years ago. At the center of the talks lay a 56-page document prepared by DPKO outlining the problems and possible remedies, a "non-paper" dubbed internally as "New Horizons." The diplomats engaged in the all-day discussions covered the litany of grim statistics and bad news but failed to come up with an ultimate solution to the problem.

"There's clearly a consensus on the points which have to be strengthened in peacekeeping operations, broadening the base of troop-contributing countries, and consensus on how to have better guidance on protection of civilians and robust peacekeeping," DPKO chief Alain Le Roy told reporters.

DPKO says it has more than 115,000 people deployed to 20 operations it leads globally, including 100,000 uniformed personnel, far above the 65,000 troops that NATO has deployed around the world. According to the Center on International Cooperation's most recent "Annual Review of Global Peace Operations," the United Nations today manages the second-largest overseas force in the world, after the United States. Factoring in normal troop rotations, DPKO manages an estimated 200,000 men and women under arms.

By contrast, in 2003, the United Nations' total peacekeeping troop strength was about 40,000 personnel. Global peacekeeping was about a tenth the size it is today just 10 years ago, when just 15,000 U.N. peacekeepers were deployed.