'Brutal funding cuts' for aid threaten millions of lives: UN
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The UN refugee agency, which has relied on the US to finance more than 40% of its budget, told AFP last month that it intended to reduce "some 600 staff positions" from a global workforce of almost 20,000.
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UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi during a press conference at the European headquarters of the UN in Geneva, Switzerland, on June 10, 2024 (AP)
Drastic assistance cuts throughout the world are endangering millions of lives, the UN refugee head said Thursday, as he readied staff for mass layoffs due to a US foreign aid budget embargo.
Filippo Grandi emphasized that "brutal funding cuts in the humanitarian sector are putting millions of lives at risk," adding that "the consequences for people fleeing danger will be immediate and devastating."
In an internal statement written to workers internationally and obtained by AFP, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees warned that the agency's financial uncertainties would "unavoidably result in a significant reduction in the size of our workforce."
"There is no doubt that the next few months will be very difficult," he stated, detailing how "we have no choice but to take decisive action which will leave no part of our organization or our work untouched. Refugees will be impacted. Our operations will be impacted. Many colleagues will be impacted."
The memo, which was sent to AFP by two independent sources and confirmed by a third source, stated that UNHCR was "facing a period of financial uncertainty, owing primarily (but not only) to the continued freeze on all foreign aid decided by the United States -- historically our biggest donor."
Humanitarian organizations from across the world have been reeling since Donald Trump returned as president in January and immediately halted most US foreign assistance money.
The UN refugee agency, which has relied on the US to finance more than 40% of its budget, told AFP last month that it intended to reduce "some 600 staff positions" from a global workforce of almost 20,000.
A senior UNHCR staff member, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said it was unknown how many more jobs might be cut, describing very poor morale and rumors of nearly 30% staff losing their jobs.
According to the staff member, there was widespread dissatisfaction inside UNHCR about the management's decision to allocate so much of the agency's budget to a single donor.
"This situation would not have happened if a more balanced approach to funding would have been taken."
The UNHCR is not the only organization that has been affected. The UN's International Organization for Migration, for example, said last week that it will lay off 6,000 employees.
Grandi's public message focused mostly on the severe repercussions of cutbacks for some of the world's most disadvantaged individuals.
He warned that less funding meant less staff and a smaller presence in countries with refugees, cautioning that "lives will be lost."
"Refugee women and girls at extreme risk of rape and other abuse are already losing access to services that kept them safe," he noted, adding that children are being left without educators or schools, leading to an increase in "child labor, trafficking, and early marriage." Grandi emphasized "this is not just a funding shortfall," but "a crisis of responsibility," urging member states to "honor their commitments to displaced people."
