Denmark’s unearmarked contributions to the Multi-Year Appeal (MYA) have helped the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA) to swiftly bolster the UN’s response to an increasingly complex and ever-evolving peace and security landscape. This support has been instrumental in enabling and sustaining peacebuilding efforts, mediation and political processes worldwide.
We are living in an age of complex and overlapping crises. Today, one-quarter of the world’s population lives in countries affected by violent armed conflict. For every $1 spent on prevention, between $26 and $103 could be saved on humanitarian aid and post-conflict reconstruction. The benefits to those who are spared the disasters of war are incalculable.
DPPA’s critical work in conflict prevention, mediation, peacemaking, and peacebuilding is backed by some 35 donor Member States each year through its Multi-Year Appeal. All recognize that operational deployments or engagements with the right actors can make a difference on the ground and influence the trajectory of conflicts. Pooled resources enable DPPA to maximize impact by combining earmarked and unearmarked funds operational deployment or engagement with the right actors can make a difference on the ground.
Denmark has long been a long-standing partner. Last year, 73% of Denmark’s total contribution significantly contributed to our swift response to emerging crises and supporting underfunded and forgotten crises. The funds were received in the first quarter of the year, facilitating better planning.
DPPA provides support to over 30 United Nations special political missions, from Afghanistan to Libya, the Horn of Africa, Myanmar, Sudan and Syria, among other contexts. These missions help prevent conflicts, mediate disputes, support peace processes, and assist in post-conflict stabilization.
Here are three contexts where unearmarked funding from Denmark helped DPPA’s response to tackle global crises and conflict:
Throughout 2024, UN Special Envoy Geir Pedersen continued years of efforts to try to move the political track and bring the Syrian parties closer towards a negotiated solution. It also played a key role in advancing Security Council resolutions, advocating for detainee issues, supporting women’s participation in the political process, and coordinating with UN agencies on humanitarian access and accountability efforts. Following the fall of the Assad regime on December 8, we were able to respond quickly, forging a UN response, working on Security Council deliberations. Work is currently underway on the Day After and DPPA is providing technical support (on constitutional arrangements, elections). Despite the caretaker authorities' stated commitment to a political transition, ongoing conflicts and unresolved security challenges threaten to derail the UN-facilitated process, necessitating continued strategic engagement and risk mitigation efforts.
DPPA deployed surge capacity to our Office in Jerusalem (UNSCO), which is leading UN efforts related to the Middle East peace process, in the immediate aftermath of the 7 October attacks by Hamas, strengthening UNSCO’s crisis response and planning at a pivotal moment. As the conflict escalated and spread to other parts of the region, including Lebanon, the need for swift surge support to missions and offices on the ground became even more urgent. We continued to facilitate access to conflict-affected areas for fact-finding, while also providing critical political and technical support.
As the war in Ukraine enters its third year, our real-time analysis informs UN leadership on political, diplomatic, and security developments, with daily reports contributing to over 160 briefings to the Security Council delivered by the Secretary-General and senior UN officials. Our Liaison Office in Kyiv is our eyes and ears on the ground, and plays a crucial role in monitoring the situation, engaging with local stakeholders, and supporting inclusive peace processes.
The MYA is our lifeline and makes DPPA more operational. Thanks to the MYA, we can deploy expert staff or senior mediators at short notice in peace negotiations (funding more than 100 deployments a year) and promote concrete action to boost women’s participation in peace processes. On the electoral front, DPPA coordinates electoral assistance to dozens of countries a year. In 2024, we provided technical support to about one-third of the elections conducted globally.