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All Peace Operations are Political | 13A political lead and the continued integrationof peacebuilding and development activities arelikely to remain desirable beyond the presence ofinternational security forces: the integrated peacebuildingmission in Sierra Leone demonstrates thevalue of this approach. The lesson most commonlydrawn from the 2006 crisis in independent Timor-Leste, which exploded as a UN transition from apeacekeeping mission to a follow-on integratedoffice was about to take place, is the wrong one: thefailure to foresee and attempt to avert the crisis wasthe consequence of inadequate political engagement,rather than of premature withdrawal of themilitary presence. The transition through differentstages of the UN peace operation in Burundi hasbeen bedeviled by arguments around the timing ofthe transfer of departmental responsibility whichappear to have had little or nothing to do with theactual nature of the mission.UN “peacekeeping” missions have come toinclude not only missions with civilian functionsgreatly exceeding their peacekeeping functions,but also missions w<strong>here</strong> the peacekeeping functionis carried out by another international actor orhas come to an end. The peacekeeping frameworkwas ill-equipped to plan and manage transitionaladministrations with full governmental responsibilitiesin Kosovo and East Timor. This year’sdisaster in Haiti requires international securityfunctions in the short-term, but the future UN roleis not appropriately conceptualized and planned asa peacekeeping mission.The different funding procedures for“peacekeeping operations” and “special politicalmissions” create a distinction that does not correspondto country requirements. What constitutes abig special political mission, as in Nepal, would bea relatively small peacekeeping operation. It makesno sense to fund such missions out of the regularbudget. As long ago as 1995, in the Supplement toan Agenda for Peace, Secretary-General BoutrosBoutros-Ghali drew attention to the need to establishagreed procedures for the financing of “a classof field missions which are neither peacekeepingoperations nor the kind of recurrent activity which isnormally funded by the regular budget.” 4When it comes to mandating and accountabilityarrangements for peace and security operations, theSecurity Council is the appropriate body to haveoversight of those which require the deploymentof international security forces. It is questionable,however, whether it is the appropriate bodyto have oversight of transitional administrations,reconstruction and state-building, or broaderpeacebuilding. Its relationship in this respect to thePeacebuilding Commission and the effectiveness ofthe latter are yet to be fully determined.The Next UN ReformThe time has come for a fundamental review andmodification of UN departmental structures,funding mechanisms and mandating andaccountability arrangements, with the objective ofcreating a system able to ensure that field operationsare designed, modified, funded and managedaccording to the mix of political, peacekeeping andpeacebuilding functions required by each countrycontext and its evolution.The fundamental requirement for this to beachieved is the merger of the two departmentscurrently responsible for running peacekeepingand political missions, namely DPKO and DPA.A single peace and security department shouldbe charged with the political oversight and direction,as well as the operational management, of allpeace operations deployed by the UN, regardlessof whether they include uniformed personnel. ThePeacebuilding Support Office should become partof the merged department, and specialized unitssuch as the Mediation Support Unit, the ElectoralAssistance Department and the Office for Rule ofLaw and Security Institutions should deliver theirtechnical expertise to all peace operations on thesame terms.The establishment of the Department of FieldSupport (DFS) has been an important step towardsrecognizing that t<strong>here</strong> are equal needs for support tofield operations of diverse kinds, irrespective of currentdepartmental management. The DFS GlobalSupport Strategy, endorsed in July 2010 by MemberStates, offers a platform for more efficient andfaster support for all peace operations, regardlessof their size or designation. Member States shouldaccept that all peace operations ought to be fundedoutside the regular budget of the Organization,as they are not intended to be recurrent expenses.Member States also need to consider what wouldbe the most effective mechanisms for the Security