GENEVA: Trump administration freezes on US foreign aid have led many United Nations organizations to cut staff, budgets and services in places as diverse as Afghanistan, Sudan, Ukraine and far beyond.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has lamented the “severe cuts” and cited some fallout last week: Over 9 million people in Afghanistan will miss out on health and protection services; cash allocations that helped 1 million people in Ukraine last year have been suspended; funding for programs for people fleeing Sudan have run out, among other things.
Many independent NGOs — some that work with the United Nations — have cited many project closures because of the US administration’s decision to eliminate more than 90 percent of foreign aid contracts, cut some $60 billion in funding, and terminate some 10,000 contracts worldwide involving the US Agency for International Development, USAID.
For their part, UN agencies have been scrambling to revise their operations, make strategic cuts, seek funding elsewhere, and appeal to the administration to restore US support. Some hope federal court rulings will salvage some US foreign aid outlays.
Here’s what some UN organizations say about the impact of the US funding freezes and their response to them — so far.
Less UN help for people on the move: Refugees and Migrants
UNHCR : The UN refugee agency, which got over 40 percent of its nearly $5 billion budget last year from the United States, told The Associated Press on Wednesday the pause in US funding allocations have affected operations and its “first cost saving efforts” will involve cutting $300 million in planned activities.
Some partners — UN organizations often rely on and fund outside groups — have pulled back or halted some activities that, for example, have led to suspended services for nearly 180,000 forcibly displaced women in girls in Central African Republic, Uganda and South Sudan. In Ethiopia, 200,000 forcibly displaced women and girls will be affected by the closure of services, it said.
“If new funding is not forthcoming soon, more cuts in direct life-saving assistance will be inevitable,” spokesman Matthew Saltmarsh said.
IOM: The International Organization for Migration, which is run by Amy Pope of the United States and got more than 40 percent of its $3.4 billion budget in 2023 from the US, said it was “acting accordingly” in response to the US order to pause foreign assistance funding that was affecting staff, operations and beneficiaries.
Devex, a news organization focusing on global development, reported last month that IOM sent dismissal notices to some 3,000 employees who had been working on a US resettlement program following the funding freezes. The agency declined to comment to the AP.
UN health agencies sound the alarm
WHO: The Trump administration has been especially tough with the World Health Organization. One of his earliest executive orders announced a US pullout from the UN health agency, which can’t take full effect until next January, as well as a recall of US staff working with WHO and funding pauses.
WHO says a global measles and rubella lab network is “at risk of collapse” because its cost of about $8 million a year is entirely funded by the US The funding cuts have affected the global response to mpox, and WHO has tapped its own emergency funds to fill gaps left in the response to Ebola in Uganda.
On Wednesday, WHO said US cuts in bilateral funding to fight tuberculosis will have a “devastating response on TB programs” — which the United States has generally contributed $200-$250 million to every year over the last decade.
UNAIDS : The AIDS-fighting agency said Wednesday that US funding has “served as the backbone” for HIV prevention in many countries hit hard by the virus. US funding amounts to 55 percent of the total AIDS budget in Uganda, and the funding freeze has led to the closure of drop-in centers and service points that provide antiretroviral therapy.
It said a rapid assessment estimated that 750,000 people in Haiti are affected by the US freeze, and 70 percent of the 181 total sites funded through the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, had closed: “Patients have flooded the remaining sites, which are unable to meet the increased demand.”
A “large portion” of PEPFAR-funded staff working on HIV response in South Africa will be affected because dozens of USAID implementing partners received termination letters last week, UNAIDS said.
At a regular briefing Thursday, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric highlighted the impact of funding cuts on Afghanistan alone, saying more than 200 health facilities have closed — depriving 1.8 million people from essential health services in the country.
Unlocking aid from UN coffers
OCHA: The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Thursday it was releasing $110 million from its emergency response fund to help address underfunded crises in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Tom Fletcher, the UN humanitarian chief who heads the office, told the Security Council on Thursday the US funding cuts to foreign aid amounted to “body blow to our work to save lives.”
He said he had asked partners to provide lists of areas where they have to cut back.
“It is of course for individual countries to decide how to spend their money. But it is the pace at which so much vital work has been shut down that adds to the perfect storm that we face,” Fletcher said.
From staff cuts to aid reductions, UN humanitarian agencies scramble in wake of US funding freeze
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From staff cuts to aid reductions, UN humanitarian agencies scramble in wake of US funding freeze
- Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has lamented the “severe cuts” and cited some fallout last week
- Here’s what some leading UN organizations have said about the impacts of the US foreign aid freeze and their response to it — so far
Rescuers scour buildings after Air India plane crash kills over 240
- Only one passenger survived after the plane crashed onto a medical college hostel during lunch hour
- Parts of the plane’s fuselage were scattered around the smoldering building into which it crashed
The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner with 242 people on board bound for Gatwick Airport south of London took off over a residential area and disappeared from view before a huge fireball was seen rising into the sky from beyond the houses, CCTV footage showed.
Only one passenger survived after the plane crashed onto a medical college hostel during lunch hour, with local media reporting as many as 24 people on the ground were also killed. Reuters could not immediately verify the number.
Rescue workers had completed combing the crash site and were now searching for missing people and bodies in the buildings as well as for aircraft parts that could help explain why the plane crashed soon after taking off.
Local media reported that one of two black boxes from the 787 had been found. Reuters could not verify the reports, which also did not say whether it was the flight data recorder or the cockpit voice recorder that had been recovered.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was briefed by officials on the progress of rescue operations when he visited the crash site in his home state of Gujarat on Friday. Modi also met some of the injured being treated in hospital.
“The scene of devastation is saddening,” he said in a post on X.
Residents living in the vicinity said that construction of the hostel for resident doctors was completed only a year ago and the buildings were not fully occupied.
“We were at home and heard a massive sound, it appeared like a big blast. We then saw very dark smoke which engulfed the entire area,” said 63-year-old Nitin Joshi, who has been living in the area for more than 50 years.
Parts of the plane’s fuselage were scattered around the smoldering building into which it crashed. The tail of the plane was wedged on top of the building.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing unnamed sources, that an investigation into the crash was focusing on “whether the aircraft had a loss or reduction in engine thrust.”
India’s NDTV reported that New Delhi was considering grounding Air India’s Dreamliner fleet for safety checks. Air India has more than 30 Dreamliners that include the Boeing 787-8 and 787-9 versions.
Modern, wide-body jet
It was the first crash for the Dreamliner since the wide-body jet began flying commercially in 2011, according to the Aviation Safety Network database.
The plane that crashed on Thursday flew for the first time in 2013 and was delivered to Air India in January 2014, Flightradar24 said.
Air India, Boeing and India’s Ministry of Civil Aviation ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the NDTV report on the possible grounding of the fleet.
The lone survivor, a British national, told Indian media how he had heard a loud noise shortly after Flight AI171 took off.
India’s Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said he is in touch with foreign ministers of Britain, Portugal and Canada after citizens from their countries were killed in the crash.
Global leaders have expressed their condolences, including China’s President Xi Jinping who sent his message to India’s president, prime minister and Britain’s King Charles on Friday.
The passengers included 169 Indian nationals, 53 Britons, seven Portuguese and one Canadian.
Air India has said the investigation would take time. Planemaker Boeing has said a team of experts is ready to go to India to help in the probe.
Vidhi Chaudhary, a top state police officer, said on Thursday the death toll was more than 240, revising down a previous toll of 294 because it included body parts that had been counted twice.
“Almost 70 percent of the passengers were found in their seats, most of them had their seatbelts on,” a first responder told local newspaper Indian Express.
The last fatal plane crash in India, the world’s third-largest aviation market and its fastest-growing, was in 2020 and involved Air India Express, the airline’s low-cost arm.
In an unrelated incident, an Air India flight from Phuket in Thailand headed to Delhi made an emergency landing on Friday after a bomb threat was received on board, airport authorities said.
Indian conglomerate Tata Group took control of the formerly state-owned Air India in 2022, and merged it with Vistara — a joint venture between the group and Singapore Airlines – last year.
Air India flight makes emergency landing in Thailand after bomb threat; all passengers off plane
- Indian airlines, airports received nearly 1,000 hoax calls and messages in first 10 months of 2024
- Incident follows Air India flight crash in Ahmedabad on Thursday, which killed over 240 people
BANGKOK: An Air India flight from Phuket in Thailand to India’s capital New Delhi received an onboard bomb threat on Friday and made an emergency landing on the island, airport authorities said.
All 156 passengers on flight AI 379 had been escorted from the plane, in line with emergency plans, an Airports of Thailand official said.
The aircraft took off from Phuket airport bound for the Indian capital at 9.30 a.m. (0230 GMT) on Friday, but made a wide loop around the Andaman Sea and landed back on the southern Thai island, according to flight tracker Flightradar24.
The incident follows the crash of an Air India flight in Ahmedabad on Thursday shortly after takeoff, in which more than 240 people were killed.
AOT did not provide details on the bomb threat. Air India did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Indian airlines and airports were inundated with hoax bomb threats last year, with nearly 1,000 hoax calls and messages received in the first 10 months, nearly 10 times that of 2023.
Mexican citizen dies in US immigration detention center
- The man died on June 7 at an ICE facility in the southern state of Georgia
- US authorities notified the Mexican consulate in Georgia’s capital Atlanta of the death
MEXICO CITY: A Mexican citizen died in a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center from undetermined circumstances, Mexico’s foreign ministry has said.
The death comes amid ongoing demonstrations in several US states, most prominently in California, against immigration enforcement raids launched by US President Donald Trump’s administration.
The man died on June 7 at an ICE facility in the southern state of Georgia, where he was being held after he was transferred from a state prison, the foreign ministry said in a statement Thursday.
US authorities notified the Mexican consulate in Georgia’s capital Atlanta of the death.
“Consular staff has established communication with local and ICE authorities, as well as with the individual’s family members, to clarify the facts, confirm the official cause of death, and provide legal advice and support to the family,” the ministry said.
Mexico’s foreign ministry said consular staff had not been notified to interview the detainee while he was in custody, despite regular visits to the facility to assist Mexican nationals.
“The consulate has requested an explanation from the (detention) center’s authorities,” the ministry said.
It also said it was examining legal options and maintaining communication with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the state’s independent investigative body.
Japan ‘strongly condemns’ Israel’s attack on Iran
TOKYO: Japan has joined in the condemnation of Israel’s attack on Iran with Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya saying the attack “escalates the situation” in the Middle East, Japan’s Foreign Ministry reported.
“We deeply regret that military force was used despite ongoing diplomatic efforts, including talks between the US and Iran, to achieve a peaceful resolution to the Iranian nuclear issue,” Iwaya said. “Our country strongly condemns this action, which escalates the situation.”
Iwaya emphasized that peace and stability in the Middle East are “extremely important” to Japan and urged all parties involved to exercise maximum restraint.
He called for de-escalation of the situation, adding that the Japanese government will spare no effort to protect Japanese nationals residing in the region.
“We will continue to take all necessary measures to prevent further deterioration of the situation,” he said.
Pakistan, other nuclear states together spent $100 billion on weapons in 2024 — report
- US spent $56.8 billion in 2024, followed by China at $12.5 billion, says International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons
- ICAN says level of nuclear weapons spending in 2024 by these nine nations could have paid UN budget almost 28 times over
GENEVA: Nuclear-armed states spent more than $100 billion on their atomic arsenals last year, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons said Friday, lamenting the lack of democratic oversight of such spending.
ICAN said Britain, China, France, India, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia and the United States together spent nearly $10 billion more than in 2023.
The United States spent $56.8 billion in 2024, followed by China at $12.5 billion and Britain at $10.4 billion, ICAN said in its flagship annual report.
Geneva-based ICAN won the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize for its key role in drafting the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which took effect in 2021.
Some 69 countries have ratified it to date, four more have directly acceded to the treaty and another 25 have signed it, although none of the nuclear weapons states have come on board.
This year’s report looked at the costs incurred by the countries that host other states’ nuclear weapons.
It said such costs are largely unknown to citizens and legislators alike, thereby avoiding democratic scrutiny.
Although not officially confirmed, the report said Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkiye were hosting US nuclear weapons, citing experts.
Meanwhile Russia claims it has nuclear weapons stationed in Belarus, but some experts are unsure, it added.
The report said there was “little public information” about the costs associated with hosting US nuclear weapons in NATO European countries, citing the cost of facility security, nuclear-capable aircraft and preparation to use such weapons.
“Each NATO nuclear-sharing arrangement is governed by secret agreements,” the report said.
“It’s an affront to democracy that citizens and lawmakers are not allowed to know that nuclear weapons from other countries are based on their soil or how much of their taxes is being spent on them,” said the report’s co-author Alicia Sanders-Zakre.
Eight countries openly possess nuclear weapons: the United States, Russia, Britain, France, China, India, Pakistan and North Korea.
Israel is widely assumed to have nuclear weapons, although it has never officially acknowledged this.
ICAN said the level of nuclear weapons spending in 2024 by these nine nations could have paid the UN budget almost 28 times over.
“The problem of nuclear weapons is one that can be solved, and doing so means understanding the vested interests fiercely defending the option for nine countries to indiscriminately murder civilians,” said ICAN’s program coordinator Susi Snyder.
The private sector earned at least $42.5 billion from their nuclear weapons contracts in 2024 alone, the report said.
There are at least $463 billion in ongoing nuclear weapons contracts, some of which do not expire for decades, and last year, at least $20 billion in new nuclear weapon contracts were awarded, it added.
“Many of the companies that benefited from this largesse invested heavily in lobbying governments, spending $128 million on those efforts in the United States and France, the two countries for which data is available,” ICAN said.
Standard nuclear doctrine — developed during the Cold War between superpowers the United States and the Soviet Union — is based on the assumption that such weapons will never have to be used because their impact is so devastating, and because nuclear retaliation would probably bring similar destruction on the original attacker.
