UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. humanitarian company stated it’s chopping its 2,600 workers working in additional than 60 international locations by 20% due to “brutal cuts” in funding which have left it with an almost $60 million shortfall.
U.N. humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher stated in a letter obtained Friday by The Related Press that “the humanitarian neighborhood was already underfunded, overstretched and actually, below assault” earlier than the latest funding cuts.
Within the letter to workers on the company, he didn’t say which nation was accountable for the cuts that led to the funding disaster on the U.N. Workplace for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, often called OCHA, however he indicated it was the US.
Fletcher stated OCHA had an total finances of round $430 million for 2025, noting that a number of international locations have introduced or applied cuts to the company’s extra-budgetary assets. He singled out the US.
“The U.S. alone has been the biggest humanitarian donor for many years,” he stated, and the most important contributor to OCHA’s extra-budgetary assets, paying about 20% — which quantities to $63 million for 2025. He didn’t say whether or not the U.S. had reduce that quantity.
President Donald Trump has dismantled the U.S. Company for Worldwide Growth, which was accountable for humanitarian assist, and has drastically curtailed funding that has stored thousands and thousands of individuals alive around the globe.
“Up to now, with projected money outflows totaling $258.5 million, we discover ourselves with a funding hole of virtually $58 million,” Fletcher stated within the letter.
Whereas humanitarian wants have elevated, he stated, OCHA is already seeing the cuts hitting entry to “life-saving assist.” Humanitarian organizations that associate with the U.N. have been hit arduous, with native teams “bearing the brunt,” adopted by worldwide organizations and U.N. humanitarian businesses, he stated.
Fletcher stated OCHA must reconfigure its operations to match its assets and can scale back forms to turn out to be “much less prime heavy.” That may imply “considerably lowering” senior positions at U.N. headquarters and in some areas and international locations.
“OCHA will reduce our presence and operations in Cameroon, Colombia, Eritrea, Iraq, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Gaziantep (in Turkey), and Zimbabwe,” he stated
