GENEVA (AN) — Days after reporting the number of refugees under its care more than doubled in a decade to 36.8 million last year, UNHCR was forced to announce it must slash 3,500 jobs or around 30% of its global staffing costs due to the Trump administration's abrupt dropoff in U.S. foreign aid.
The U.N. refugee agency said on Monday it has completed a review of its activities, expenditure, staffing, and structures due to a "significant decline" in funding. It repeated its warning from earlier this year that "brutal" funding cuts in the humanitarian sector put millions of lives at risk – and emphasized that the review led to decisions that prioritized keeping operations running in those regions with the most urgent refugee needs.