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Geneva – The United States on Monday announced a $2 billion humanitarian aid commitment to the UN as President Trump continued to cut US foreign aid and warned United Nations agencies to “get used to it, shrink or die” during the new financial crisis.
The money is a small fraction of what the US has given in the past but it represents what the administration believes is a generous amount that will maintain the United States’ status as the world’s largest aid donor.
“This new model will better share the humanitarian burden of the UN with other developed countries and will require the UN to cut the belly, eliminate duplication, and commit to new strong impact, accountability and monitoring mechanisms,” said Secretary of State Marco Rubio on social media.
The pledge creates a pooled fund from which money will be sent to individual agencies and priorities, an important part of the US’s demands for drastic changes around the world that have shocked many humanitarian workers and led to major cuts in programs and services.
$2 billion is only a fraction of US humanitarian funding for UN-backed programs, which have reached $17 billion annually in recent years, according to UN data. US officials say only $8-10 billion of that has been voluntary contributions. The United States also pays billions in annual dues related to its UN membership.
Critics say the cuts in Western aid have been counterproductive, driven millions into starvation, displacement or disease, and undermined US soft power around the world.
The move caps a difficult year for many UN agencies such as its refugee, migrant and food aid agencies. The Trump administration has already cut billions in US foreign aid, causing them to cut spending, aid projects and thousands of jobs. Other traditional Western donors have reduced emissions, too.
The announced US commitment to the aid programs of the United Nations – the world’s leading provider of humanitarian aid and the largest recipient of American aid – begins an agreement with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, headed by Tom Fletcher, a former British diplomat and government official.
Even as the US withdraws its aid, needs have increased around the world: Famine has been recorded this year in conflict-ridden parts. Sudan again Gazaand floods, droughts and natural disasters that many scientists say are caused climate change they took many lives or drove thousands from their homes.
The cuts will have a major impact on UN agencies such as the International Organization for Migration, the World Food Program and the refugee agency UNHCR. They have already received billions less from the US this year than under the annual allocation from the previous administrations of Biden, or even during the first term of Mr.
Now, the idea is that Fletcher’s office – which last year began a “reset of aid” to improve efficiency, accountability and effectiveness of the money spent – will be a funnel for US and other aid money that can be redirected to those agencies, rather than dispersing US contributions to various individual appeals for aid.
The United States wants to see “joint leadership” in UN aid delivery systems, a State Department official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to provide details ahead of the announcement at the US embassy in Geneva.
Under the plan, Fletcher and his liaison office will “control the spigot” of how money is distributed to organizations, the official said.
“This restructuring of United Nations aid should deliver more aid with fewer tax dollars – providing more focused, results-driven aid consistent with US foreign policy,” said US Ambassador to the United Nations Michael Waltz.
US officials say the $2 billion is the first step to help fund OCHA’s annual funding request, announced earlier this month. Fletcher, noting the improved aid situation, has already scaled back the request this year. Other traditional UN donors such as Britain, France, Germany and Japan have reduced aid allocations and are demanding changes this year.
“This agreement requires the UN to integrate humanitarian operations to reduce bureaucracy, unnecessary duplication, and ideological fragmentation,” the State Department said in a statement. “Individual UN organizations will need to adapt, shrink, or die.”
“Nowhere is change more important than in humanitarian organizations, which carry out one of the most important tasks of the UN,” the department said. “Today’s agreement is an important step in that reform effort, balancing President Trump’s commitment to remain the world’s most generous nation, and the need to transform the way we fund, oversee, and integrate the UN’s humanitarian efforts.”
At its core, the reform project will help establish a pool of funds that can be directed to specific problems or countries in need. A total of 17 countries will be targeted initially, including Bangladesh, Congo, Haiti, in Syria again Ukraine.
One of the poorest countries in the world, Afghanistannot included, as well as the Palestinian territories, which officials say will be paid for with money from Mr. Trump’s peace in Gaza is incomplete.
This work, which has been done for months, stems from Mr. Trump has long said the world body has great promise but has failed to deliver and, in his eyes, has strayed too far from its original mandate to save lives while undermining American interests, promoting radical ideas and promoting wasteful, unaccountable spending.
Fletcher praised this agreement, in a statement, “In a time of great difficulty around the world, the United States is showing that it has a great capacity to help people, giving hope to people who have lost everything.”
