There is currently one of the most severe crises that the United Nations has ever faced in its eight-decade history. The United States, which is the United Nations’ largest financial donor, is withholding billions of dollars from essential United Nations agencies and projects. In order to ensure that the United Nations can save lives through programs that the United States is cutting financing for, the leadership of the United Nations and affluent democracies need to move rapidly.
Already prior to President Donald Trump’s second inauguration, the United Nations was already facing challenging financial circumstances. Since several years ago, the organisation has been dealing with a liquidity issue, which is mostly brought on by payments that are late and unpredictable from the United States and China, which are the United Nations’ two largest contributors.
Due to the fact that it has the largest economy, the United States of America is compelled to pay 22% of the United Nations’ normal budget of $3.7 billion this year. The United States was a driving force behind the establishment of the United Nations. China, which is the member state with the second-largest GDP, is expected to contribute twenty percent of the total. The United Kingdom and France each contribute approximately 4%, while Japan contributes 7%, Germany contributes nearly 6%, and Japan contributes 7%.
On the day that President Trump arrived to the White House in January, the United States of America had already due about three billion dollars in back payments to the United Nations General Assembly, peacekeeping, and tribunals. This does not take into account the billions of dollars that the United States has contributed voluntarily to various United Nations organisations and initiatives. Similar to the moves taken by the president during his first term in office, the government made the announcement that it will withdraw from the United Nations’ World Health Organisation (WHO) and stop providing financing to the Human Rights Council and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which provides assistance to Palestinian refugees.
However, this time around, the White House has also terminated the vast majority of its pledges to provide foreign aid through the United States Agency for International Development in a callous and reckless manner, which has resulted in the loss of human lives. As the United Nations struggles to address humanitarian crises in Sudan, Ukraine, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, the Palestinian territories, Myanmar, and other places that are stretching the organisation to its breaking point, Washington is forcing the United Nations to also undertake devastating cuts by abandoning its financial obligations to the United Nations.
There have been instances that were previously inconceivable, such as the complete defunding of the United Nations or the complete withdrawal of the United States from the United Nations.
Antonio Guterres, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, launched his “UN80” reform strategy on Monday. The goal of this strategy is to make the United Nations more agile and cost-effective. However, Guterres also warned that the United Nations is facing “real threats” that require considerable cost-cutting and simplifying processes. I was able to get a private letter of six pages that detailed his objectives. These plans include the consolidation of mandates, the reduction of senior roles, and the reduction of the United Nations’ presence in expensive sites such as its headquarters in New York City.
It is not apparent whether the United Nations will be able to compensate for the nearly complete loss of funding from the United States. The United Nations is going to lay off a significant number of employees, which may have a devastating impact on the organization’s capacity to carry out life-saving humanitarian and human rights work. A reduction of up to thirty percent of the World Food Program’s workforce is planned. The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs of the United Nations intends to take a twenty percent layoff.
Despite the fact that there is expected to be a twenty percent increase in the number of refugees who require resettlement this year, the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is planned to lay off as much as a third of its workers.
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