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The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, has cut nearly 5,000 jobs this year amid steep reductions in international aid, its chief warned on Monday, describing the situation as the result of “disastrous” political decisions.
UNHCR is facing soaring global displacement while donor nations, led by the United States under President Donald Trump, have sharply reduced foreign aid. The agency’s head, Filippo Grandi, said the job cuts accounted for more than a quarter of UNHCR’s workforce, with further reductions expected. Programs including gender-based violence prevention, psychosocial support for torture survivors, food aid, cash grants, and school operations have all been curtailed, while refugee resettlement has stalled.
Grandi said that while UNHCR’s approved 2025 budget was $10.6 billion, it had historically received only about half, and current funding stood at $3.9 billion—a $1.3 billion drop from 2024. Both permanent staff and temporary or contract workers were affected by the layoffs.
US officials acknowledged Washington had been contributing a “disproportionate” share of UNHCR’s budget and stressed the strain on asylum systems from what they termed economic migration. However, Grandi cautioned that undermining the principle of non-refoulement—the cornerstone of the right to seek asylum—would be catastrophic, warning that dismantling the post-World War II humanitarian system would worsen displacement and regional instability.
