UN faces $500m budget cut and 20% job losses after big drop in US funding : Shared by Richard Bridle

by Patrick Wintour
The Guardian
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Summary
The UN is facing a $500 million cut in its 2026 budget following drastic reductions in US funding under the Trump administration, forcing an estimated 20% cut in staff, or about 3,000 jobs, from its 35,000-person workforce.

The UN’s core budget will shrink from $3.7 billion to $3.2 billion, excluding cuts to peacekeeping, humanitarian, and health agencies. Secretary-General António Guterres has tasked Guy Ryder with leading a UN80 reform process to streamline overlapping mandates and agencies into the UN’s three pillars: peace and security, human rights, and development. Initial measures include consolidating payroll, relocating functions to lower-cost duty stations, and vacating leased offices, but the scale of U.S. retrenchment means far deeper cuts will be necessary. Analysts warn the reductions will severely affect programs such as UNICEF education, WFP food distribution, and UNHCR refugee support. Critics see the crisis as part of a wider assault on the UN’s legitimacy, with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio denouncing the postwar global order as obsolete.

Quotes
“All of the UN agencies have been asked to justify their existence, the origin of their mandate and their relationship to other UN entities.”

“These cuts are more extensive and more permanent than many people thought at first glance … The US pays 22% of the regular budget, 25% of the peacekeeping budget and 40% of the humanitarian budget.” — Allison Lombardo

“We’ve only been funded 19% of what we need, which is a 40% drop on where we were last year … Unicef – an extra 6 million kids are likely to be out of school. WFP are saying they can only reach 1 million of the 3 million Afghans who currently need food. UNHCR are saying that 11 million refugees may no longer get the help that they need.” — Tom Fletcher

“We’re in a situation now where there are many who would like to see the UN being weakened, which, of course, is a reckless act of self-harm.” — Tom Fletcher