{"id":293675,"date":"2025-04-30T00:32:06","date_gmt":"2025-04-30T00:32:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/30\/u-n-orders-agencies-to-find-budget-cuts-including-via-staff-moves-from-n-y\/"},"modified":"2025-04-30T00:32:06","modified_gmt":"2025-04-30T00:32:06","slug":"u-n-orders-agencies-to-find-budget-cuts-including-via-staff-moves-from-n-y","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/30\/u-n-orders-agencies-to-find-budget-cuts-including-via-staff-moves-from-n-y\/","title":{"rendered":"U.N. Orders Agencies to Find Budget Cuts, Including via Staff Moves From N.Y."},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/04\/29\/multimedia\/29intl-un-budget-trump-qmpk\/29intl-un-budget-trump-qmpk-facebookJumbo.jpg?ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"U.N. Orders Agencies to Find Budget Cuts, Including via Staff Moves From N.Y.\" title=\"U.N. Orders Agencies to Find Budget Cuts, Including via Staff Moves From N.Y.\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The United Nations, anticipating that President Trump will slash U.S. contributions to the global body, has told its departments to draw up plans for budget cuts, including through staff relocations from New York and Geneva to less-expensive cities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The instructions \u2014 outlined in a two-page memo dated April 25 that was reviewed by The New York Times \u2014 were sent from Secretary General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres\u2019s office to the heads of all agencies that report directly to him. The memo set a May 15 deadline for all proposals so that they could be added to the 2026 budget.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cYour objective is to identify as many functions as possible that could be relocated to existing lower-cost locations,\u201d the memo reads, \u201cor otherwise reduced or abolished if they are duplicative or no longer viable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In February, President Trump signed an executive order calling for <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/04\/us\/politics\/trump-united-nations-unrwa.html\" title=\"\">a review of the overall U.S. funding and ties<\/a> to the U.N. He withdrew the United States from several U.N. organizations, including those dealing with human rights, women\u2019s reproductive rights, climate change, Palestinian aid and global health. In his first term, he also reduced U.S. contributions to peacekeeping efforts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Three senior U.N. officials said on Tuesday that the drastic, cost-cutting measures laid out in the memo had caught the agency\u2019s departments by surprise and went beyond what they had expected. The officials, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, said the directive was largely viewed as a way for the U.N. to brace for potential additional cuts by Mr. Trump and to proactively insulate it from the financial blow.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But the U.N. officials said the budget cuts were ordered only partly in response to Mr. Trump\u2019s moves. The directive comes as the U.N. is adjusting to a host of financial problems, they said, from the withdrawal and reduction in financial contributions by major donors like the United States and Europe to a cash-flow crisis caused by member states\u2019 not paying their annual dues on time and in full.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Guterres announced on March 12 that he was launching an initiative called <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sg\/en\/content\/sg\/press-encounter\/2025-03-12\/secretary-generals-press-encounter-the-un80-initiative\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">UN80<\/a> \u2014 named for the organization\u2019s 80th anniversary \u2014 to create cost-effective measures and improve efficiency across the organization.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThese are times of intense uncertainty and unpredictability,\u201d Mr. Guterres said at the time. \u201cResources are shrinking across the board \u2014 and they have been for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He also said that a reduction in funding from the United States and other countries had \u201cnaturally led to the need by the agencies that deliver those services to reduce staff, to shrink their dimension and to eliminate many activities.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">St\u00e9phane Dujarric, the U.N. spokesman, said the April 25 memo had resulted from the UN80 initiative.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Richard Gowan, the U.N. director for the International Crisis Group, said that while the U.N. was portraying the moves as an internal overhaul, in reality, they had resulted from pressure by and anxiety about the Trump administration.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe U.S. cuts, the range of the cuts and scale of the cuts have really shocked the U.N.,\u201d Mr. Gowan said in an interview. \u201cSo Guterres is now frankly racing to catch up with a very bad situation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The United States is the largest contributor to the U.N., accounting for nearly 25 percent of its overall budget, which in 2024 amounted to about $3.6 billion and went toward administrative and peacekeeping needs. America is also a major donor to various U.N. agencies for humanitarian relief work; in 2022, the United States contributed about $18 billion to the U.N. across the board.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Britain, the Netherlands and Sweden also have announced deep cuts in international aid, including to the U.N., in order to focus on domestic needs and defense priorities. China, a major contributor to the U.N., has traditionally stepped up funding toward programs that align with its own interests, like peacekeeping.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Now, the U.N. estimates it would face a 20 percent budget reduction for 2026 as a result of funding cuts, according to Mr. Gowan, which would amount to billions of dollars in losses.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Some agencies, including UNICEF and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said they had already begun cost-cutting reviews separate from the Guterres directive.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A senior official at UNICEF said the agency was anticipating at least a 20 percent budget decrease for 2026. UNICEF is also considering relocating a sizable portion of its staff to Valencia, Spain, from New York, the senior official said. The goal, he added, was to ensure any budget shortfall would have as little effect as possible on programs that serve children.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">UNICEF is funded through donations from member states, the private sector and individuals. It does not receive money from the U.N.\u2019s overall budget.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Even before the memo was sent, Mr. Guterres said last month that the U.N.\u2019s Population Fund, which focuses on women\u2019s health and reproductive rights, would move its entire operation to Nairobi, Kenya, from New York.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Tom Fletcher, the U.N.\u2019s top humanitarian chief, also <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.unocha.org\/extracts-usg-fletchers-message-staff-ocha-reset\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">announced to staff this month that the agency was scaling back<\/a> its operations in several countries;, maintaining a hiring freeze and travel restrictions; and reducing staff by 20 percent.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/04\/29\/world\/un-budget-cuts-trump.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The United Nations, anticipating that President Trump will slash U.S. contributions to the global body, has told its departments to draw up plans for budget cuts, including through staff relocations from New York and Geneva to less-expensive cities. The instructions \u2014 outlined in a two-page memo dated April 25 that was reviewed by The New [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":293676,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/04\/29\/multimedia\/29intl-un-budget-trump-qmpk\/29intl-un-budget-trump-qmpk-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[460,13584,105474,5002,179459,168,1492,163575,3402,164576,228379,84420,67247,9643,48482,645,228380,190217,18901,4559,5606,500,1223,52,3449,7204,176016,225332,1021,163486],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293675"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=293675"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293675\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":293677,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293675\/revisions\/293677"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/293676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}