UN refugee agency warns funding cuts may leave 11 million without aid

4 weeks ago 11

Crisis compounded aft United States, which provided 40 percent of UNHCR backing past year, slashed its contribution.

Published On 18 Jul 2025

More than 11 cardinal refugees hazard losing entree to humanitarian assistance owing to a “dramatic” backing crisis, according to the United Nations exile agency.

The grade of UNHCR’s backing shortfall was revealed successful a study released connected Friday, which said it had truthful acold received lone 23 percent of this year’s extremity of $10.6bn, projecting an wide fund of lone $3.5bn by the extremity of the twelvemonth to conscionable the needs of 122 cardinal people.

“Our backing concern is dramatic,” Dominique Hyde, manager of outer relations for UNHCR, said.

“We fearfulness that up to 11.6 cardinal refugees and radical forced to fly are losing entree to humanitarian assistance provided by UNHCR.”

While countries that person slashed contributions were not named successful the report, the situation has been compounded by a large simplification successful backing from the United States, which provided 40 percent – much than $2bn – of the agency’s full donations past year.

Since taking bureau successful January, President Donald Trump’s medication has made funding cuts to the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and its assistance programmes worldwide successful what it says is portion of its broader program to region wasteful spending.

UNHCR said it has had to halt oregon suspend astir $1.4bn worthy of assistance programmes, including a 60 percent simplification successful fiscal assistance and exigency alleviation supplies successful galore countries, including Sudan, Myanmar and Afghanistan.

Critical areas specified arsenic aesculapian aid, education, shelter, nutrition, and extortion are among the services suffering heavy cuts, said the report, entitled “On the Brink: The devastating toll of assistance cuts connected radical forced to flee”.

In Bangladesh, wherever Rohingya refugees person lived for years successful overcrowded camps, acquisition for immoderate 230,000 children is astatine hazard of being suspended.

Women and girls are disproportionately affected by UNHCR backing cuts, with the bureau having to chopped 1 4th of its enactment for programmes connected gender-based violence.

Women and girls successful Afghanistan are the hardest deed by cuts, according to the report.

“Protection activities person been slashed by implicit 50 percent, undermining programmes connected women’s empowerment, intelligence wellness and prevention and effect to gender-based violence,” said Hyde.

Globally, UNHCR is downsizing by a third, cutting 3,500 unit positions astatine its Geneva office and successful determination offices.

The study comes aft the UN’s 2025 Global AIDS Update warned past week that Trump’s halt to overseas backing could reverse “decades of progress” connected HIV/AIDS. If backing is not replaced, the satellite could spot six cardinal other HIV infections and 4 cardinal much AIDS-related deaths by 2029, it said.

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