UN slashes global aid plan over 'deepest funding cuts ever'

The United Nations said on Monday that it was drastically scaling back its global humanitarian aid plans due to the “deepest funding cuts ever” — leaving tens of millions of people facing dire straits.

- 

The UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said it was seeking $29 billion in funding for 2025 compared to the $44 billion originally requested in December, in a “hyper-prioritised” appeal.

UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, said later on Monday that it would have to terminate 3,500 jobs, cutting 30 percent of its workforce costs, as aid funding evaporates.

Since US President Donald Trump returned to office in January, the United States — the world’s top donor—has heavily slashed foreign aid, causing havoc in the humanitarian sector across the globe.

Drastic US funding cuts have had dramatic consequences for emergency aid, vaccination campaigns and the distribution of drugs to fight Aids. Other major donor countries have also cut back their contributions in the face of an uncertain economic outlook. “Brutal funding cuts leave us with brutal choices,” OCHA chief Tom Fletcher said in a statement. “All we ask is one percent of what you chose to spend last year on war.”

In late April, while visiting a hospital in Kandahar in Afghanistan, Fletcher warned: “The impact of aid cuts is that millions die.”