UN could cut 20% jobs under reform plans

The cash-strapped United Nations could slash 20 per cent of jobs - or thousands of positions - in its executive arm under ongoing reform plans, according to an internal memo seen by AFP.

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“The Secretary-General has set an ambitious target, to achieve a meaningful reduction (between 15 per cent and 20 per cent) of the regular budget for 2026, including a reduction of 20 percent of posts, for the UN Secretariat,” UN controller Chandramouli Ramanathan wrote in a message this week to dozens of department heads.

The UN's budget for 2025 totals $3.7 billion.

The Secretariat, one of the main bodies tasked with carrying out the decisions of the Security Council and the General Assembly, employed about 35,000 people as of late 2023 - most of them in New York, but also in Geneva, Vienna and Nairobi.

The UN 80 reform initiative launched by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in March aims to streamline operations at the world body amid budgetary constraints.

Guterres recently warned of “painful” changes ahead, including staff reductions, and did obliquely raise the specter of a 20-per cent cut in staffing.

The memo seen by AFP, dated May 27, asks all department heads to prepare lists of posts to eliminate by June 13, focusing on “redundant, overlapping or non-critical functions.” “I count on your cooperation for this collective effort whose aggressive timelines are recognized,” Ramanathan wrote.