UN cuts back aid plan amid 'brutal funding cuts'
New York: The United Nations (UN) Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Monday said it was forced to drastically scale back aid plans due to "brutal funding cuts."
OCHA is seeking $29 billion (€ 25.7 billion) in funding in a drastic budget revision.
That's in contrast to the amount sought in December when the UN had said it needed $44 billion to help in over 70 countries, providing assistance to "180 million people, including refugees" under the Global Humanitarian Overview 2025 (GHO).
The OCHA said that as the year's halfway mark approached, only $5.6 billion — less than 13% — had been received.
"We have been forced into a triage of human survival," said Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief, Tom Fletcher.
In a statement OCHA said it was presenting "the global 'hyper-prioritized' appeal aiming to help 114 million people facing life-threatening needs across the world."
Under the new guidelines, OCHA aid will be directed so that it can "reach the people and places facing the most urgent needs."
Support will be directed "on the planning already done for the 2025... This will ensure that limited resources are directed where they can do the most good — as quickly as possible," the OCHA said.
Fletcher said that "brutal funding cuts leave us with brutal choices."
"All we ask is 1% of what you chose to spend last year on war. But this isn't just an appeal for money — it's a call for global responsibility, for human solidarity, for a commitment to end the suffering."
The United States is the largest contributor to UN funding, but in February the Trump administration announced that it was cutting funding to various UN agencies, including those responsible for administering aid and peacekeeping.
Other donor countries have also cut back contributions amid an atmosphere of global economic uncertainty.
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