The United Nations’ global humanitarian mission is grappling with a profound crisis of institutional legitimacy and funding, pushed to a "breaking point" by a massive shortfall in aid and a record number of attacks on its workers.
The confluence of these factors has prompted the organization to launch a strategic "reset" of its operating model, a top official said on Monday.
Speaking at a press briefing at U.N. headquarters in New York, Tom Fletcher, the U.N. undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, detailed a severe financial contraction that has led to what he called an "age of indifference."
The global humanitarian appeal, which had required $46.10 billion, has been funded at only 19% of its target.
That marks a 40% drop in international assistance compared to the previous year and is a direct result of key donors reducing their contributions, including the U.S. suspension and termination of humanitarian aid in early 2025. Fletcher noted that the total funding received, $22.58 billion in 2024, amounts to less than 1% of the world’s global defense spending.
'We need to grieve' and 'we need to fight'
The financial pressure has forced the U.N. to make difficult choices, leading to a "brutal" restructuring. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, which is headed by Fletcher, is undergoing a 20-25% reduction in staff. As a result, he said, the old aid model "is gone."
He underscored the need to build a new system that is more resilient, efficient, and direct, capable of finding new revenue streams beyond traditional state donors, particularly from the private sector.
The operational environment has also deteriorated sharply. The last two years have been the deadliest on record for aid workers. In 2024, 281 fatalities were recorded, a number tragically surpassed by an additional 270 deaths so far this year.
Fletcher warned that the attacks are increasingly sophisticated and come not just from non-state actors but also from state forces, creating an "age of impunity." In Gaza, for instance, a recent Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, report confirmed famine in the north.
The report, which is a standardized tool used by U.N. agencies and humanitarian organizations to classify the severity of food insecurity and malnutrition, also noted that 87% of U.N. trucks had been intercepted, a key data point that Fletcher attributed to the desperation of a starving population.
As the U.N. grapples with its strategic overhaul, its mission remains overstretched. In Sudan, Fletcher pointed to the siege of El Fasher, where fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces has cut off supply lines for over 900,000 civilians.
He also described a humanitarian crisis in Haiti, where escalating violence has brought a key hospital to the verge of collapse. The U.N., he said, is in a fight for its legitimacy, morale, and funding, with the outcomes of its reform efforts set to define its future role in a world of growing humanitarian need.
"There’s a sense that, you know, change is essential right now, but we’re not changing in benign waters, we’re changing in the midst of a storm around us," he said.
"And so what we’ve realized on the humanitarian side is that we need to grieve for what will go and what has gone. We need to fight for what must be saved, and we must imagine what we can be in the future."
