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Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs

Abbreviation	DPPA
Formation	1992; 32 years ago (1992)
Type	Department of the Secretariat
Legal status	Active
Head	Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs – Rosemary DiCarlo
Parent organization	United Nations Secretariat
Website	dppa.un.org/en

The United Nations Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA) is a department of the Secretariat of the United Nations (UN) with responsibility for monitoring and assessing global political developments and advising and assisting the UN Secretary General and his envoys in the peaceful prevention and resolution of conflict around the world. The department manages field-based political missions in Africa, Central Asia, and the Middle East, and has been increasing its professional capacities in conflict mediation and preventive diplomacy. DPPA also oversees UN electoral assistance to Member States of the organization. Established in 1992, the department's responsibilities also include providing secretariat support to the UN Security Council and two standing committees created by the General Assembly concerning the Rights of the Palestinian People and Decolonization. DPPA is based at the UN Headquarters in New York City.

Staffing

• Rosemary DiCarlo – Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs
• Oscar Fernandez-Taranco – Assistant Secretary-General for Peacebuilding Support
• Bintou Keita – Assistant Secretary-General for Africa, DRC lead
• Miroslav Jenča – Assistant Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia and Americas
• Mohamed Khaled Khiari – Assistant Secretary-General for Middle East, Asia and the Pacific

On 28 March 2018, UN Secretary-General António Guterres announced the appointment of Rosemary DiCarlo of the United States, President of the National Committee on American Foreign Policy and Senior Fellow at the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, Yale University, as Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs. DiCarlo succeeded Jeffrey D. Feltman of the United States, who completed his assignment on 31 March 2018.

Former under-secretaries-general

This table lists the former under-secretaries-general (USGs) who served:

• under the Department of Political and Security Council Affairs (1952–1992)
• under the Department of Political Affairs (1992–2019)
• under the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (2019–)

Former heads of DPPA and DPPA predecessors
Under-Secretary-General	Country of nationality	Years served	UN Secretary-General
Konstantin Zinchenko	Soviet Union	1952	Trygve Lie
Ilya S. Tchernychev		1953–1954	Dag Hammarskjöld
Dragoslav Protitch		1955–1957
Anatoly F. Dobrynin		1958-1959
Georgy Arkadev		1960–1961
E.D. Kiselyv		1962	U Thant
V.P. Suslov		1963–1964
Alexei E. Nesterenko		1965–1967
Leonid N. Kutakov		1968–1972
Arkady N. Shevchenko		1973–1977	Kurt Waldheim
Mikhail D. Sytenko		1978–1980
Viacheslav A. Ustinov		1981–1986	Javier Pérez de Cuéllar
Vasily S. Safronchuk		1987–1991
1 March 1992: The Department of Political Affairs (DPA) is formed. DPA absorbs the Department of Political and Security Council Affairs, the Office for Political and General Assembly Affairs and Secretariat Services (OPGS), and the Office for Special Political Questions, Regional Cooperation, Decolonization and Trusteeship (SPQRCDT).
Vladimir F. Petrovsky	Russia	1992–1993	Boutros Boutros-Ghali
James O.C. Jonah	Sierra Leone	1992–1994
Marrack Goulding	United Kingdom	1993–1997
Kieran Prendergast		1997–2005	Kofi Annan
Ibrahim Gambari	Nigeria	2005–2007
B. Lynn Pascoe	United States	2007–2012	Ban Ki-moon
Jeffrey D. Feltman		2012–2018	Ban Ki-moon António Guterres
Rosemary A. DiCarlo		2018–present	António Guterres

Field missions

As of December 2016, the DPA manages the following political missions and peace-building support offices engaged in conflict prevention, peacemaking and post-conflict peacebuilding in Africa, Central Asia and the Middle East:

In Africa:

• UNIOGBIS, United Nations Integrated Peace-building Support Office in Guinea-Bissau
• UNOCA, United Nations Office for Central Africa
• UNOWAS, United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel
• UNSMIL, United Nations Support Mission in Libya
• UNSOM, United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia

In Asia:

• UNAMA, United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan
• UNRCCA, United Nations Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy in Central Asia

In the Middle East:

• UNAMI, United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq
• UNSCO, Office of the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process
• UNSCOL, Office of the United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon

In South America:

• The United Nations Mission in Colombia

These DPA-led field operations are headed by senior representatives of the Secretary-General and provide a forward platform for preventive diplomacy and other activities across a range of disciplines, to help prevent and resolve conflict or to build lasting peace in nations emerging from civil wars. The peace-building offices, currently active in Burundi, Guinea-Bissau, the Central African Republic and Sierra Leone aim to help nations consolidate peace through comprehensive peace-building strategies developed and carried out in coordination with national actors and U.N. development and humanitarian entities on the ground. Political missions are part of a continuum of UN peace operations working in different stages of the conflict cycle. In some instances, following the signing of peace agreements, political missions overseen by the Department of Political Affairs during the stage of peace negotiations have been replaced by peacekeeping missions. In other instances, U.N. peacekeeping operations have given way to special political missions overseeing longer-term peace-building activities.

Good Offices missions

In addition to the field-based missions currently under its supervision, DPA provides guidance and support to traveling envoys and special advisers of the Secretary-General bringing to bear his “good offices” for the resolution of conflicts or the implementation of other UN mandates. These currently include UN envoys or special advisers for Cyprus, Yemen, Syria, Western Sahara, and the Macedonian-Greek naming dispute.

Investigative Mandates and Fact-Finding Missions

DPA has also assisted in establishing and providing support to various UN investigative and fact-finding bodies. These have included: the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG); the United Nations Commission of Inquiry into the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the former Prime Minister of Pakistan; the International Commission of Inquiry on the 28 September 2009 events in Guinea; and the United Nations International Investigation Commission in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

See also

• United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations
• United Nations Secretariat

Notes

1. USG Vladimir F. Petrovsky jointly headed the newly-created DPA with USG James O.C Jonah, whose Office for Special Political Questions, Regional Cooperation, Decolonization and Trusteeship merged into DPA.
2. 1992-1993: USG James O.C. Jonah jointly headed the newly-created DPA with USG Vladimir F. Petrovsky. From 1993-1994, he co-headed DPA with USG Marrack Goulding.

1. "A/66/380 - E - A/66/380". undocs.org. p. 42. Retrieved 2019-05-13.
2. "DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL AFFAIRS (DPA) AND ITS PREDECESSORS : CHART". lib-unique.un.org. UN-I-QUE (UN Info Quest) - United Nations Dag Hammarskjöld Library. 1992. Archived from the original on 13 May 2019. Retrieved 2019-05-13.
3. "Restructuring of the Secretariat of the Organization. Note by the Secretary-General". undocs.org. 21 February 1992. A/46/882. Retrieved 2019-05-14.
4. "Summary of AG-021 United Nations Department of Political Affairs (1992-present)"
5. https://search.archives.un.org/downloads/united-nations-department-of-political-affairs-1992-present.pdf "Summary of AG-021 United Nations Department of Political Affairs (1992-present)"

External links

• Records of the United Nations Department of Political Affairs (1992-present) at the United Nations Archives
• Records of the United Nations Office for Special Political Affairs (1955-1991) at the United Nations Archives
• E-Newsletter of the United Nations Department of Political Affairs
• Print Newsletter of the United Nations Department of Political Affairs
• UN Department of Political Affairs
• Map: UN Political and Peacebuilding Missions
• UN Department of Political Affairs: Senior Officials
• UN Peacemaker website for peacemaking professionals

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