UN humanitarian agency to cut staff by 20% due to ‘brutal cuts’ in funding

The United Nations flag flies on a stormy day at the U.N. during the United Nations General Assembly, Thursday, Sept. 22, 2022. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey, File)

UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. humanitarian agency said it is cutting its 2,600 staff who operate in more than 60 countries by 20 per cent because of “brutal cuts” in funding that have left it with a nearly US $60 million shortfall.

U.N. humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said in a letter obtained Friday by The Associated Press that “the humanitarian community was already underfunded, overstretched and literally, under attack” before the recent funding cuts.

In the letter to staff at the agency, he didn’t say which country was responsible for the cuts that led to the funding crisis at the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, known as OCHA, but he indicated it was the United States.

Fletcher said OCHA had an overall budget of around $430 million for 2025, noting that several countries have announced or implemented cuts to the agency’s extra-budgetary resources. He singled out the United States.

“The U.S. alone has been the largest humanitarian donor for decades,” he said, and the biggest contributor to OCHA’s extra-budgetary resources, paying about 20 per cent — which amounts to $63 million for 2025. He did not say whether the U.S. had cut that amount.

Asked to clarify the status of the $63 million, the State Department said funding for OCHA, along with other international organizations, remains under review. The White House did not respond.

President Donald Trump has dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development, which was responsible for humanitarian aid, and has drastically curtailed funding that has kept millions of people alive around the world.

“To date, with projected cash outflows totaling $258.5 million, we find ourselves with a funding gap of almost $58 million,” Fletcher said in the letter.

While humanitarian needs have increased, he said, OCHA is already seeing the cuts hitting access to “life-saving support.” Humanitarian organizations that partner with the U.N. have been hit hard, with local groups “bearing the brunt,” followed by international organizations and U.N. humanitarian agencies, he said.

Fletcher said OCHA needs to reconfigure its operations to match its resources and will reduce bureaucracy to become “less top heavy.” That will mean “substantially reducing” senior positions at U.N. headquarters and in some regions and countries.

“OCHA will scale back our presence and operations in Cameroon, Colombia, Eritrea, Iraq, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Gaziantep (in Turkiye), and Zimbabwe,” he said.

Fletcher said OCHA will be reorganized “to be more nimble, provide more context-specific coordination services and empower our country leadership.” Decision-making will shift to the local level, he said.

“We will go back to having a higher proportion of our budget in our operations, reaching a 70/30 ratio between country and regional offices, and our headquarters,” he said.

Fletcher expressed hope that focusing U.N. staff around OCHA’s priorities will improve the agency’s efficiency, reduce duplication, enhance its ability to respond rapidly and effectively to crises, and provide “clearer leadership and support to frontline operations.”

Article by Edith M. Lederer.