GENEVA: The UN refugee agency said Monday it will cut 3,500 staff jobs — slashing nearly a third of its workforce costs — due to a funding shortfall, and reduce the scale of its help worldwide.
UNHCR carried out a review of its activities, expenditure, staffing and structures following a plunge in humanitarian funding.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has been among a host of UN and private aid agencies badly hit by funding cuts by the United States.
The United States — which was by far UNHCR’s biggest donor — has slashed its foreign aid under a radical spending review ordered by US President Donald Trump. Other countries have also cut humanitarian spending.
Washington previously made up more than 40 percent of UNHCR contributions received — $2 billion per year, the agency’s chief Filippo Grandi told the UN Security Council in April.
“In light of difficult financial realities, UNHCR is compelled to reduce the overall scale of its operations,” Grandi said in Monday’s statement.
He added that UNHCR would focus “on activities that have the greatest impact for refugees” while streamlining its Geneva headquarters and regional offices.
The agency said it had had to close or downsize offices worldwide and implement a nearly 50-percent cut in senior positions in Geneva and at the regional HQs.
“In total, approximately 3,500 staff positions will be discontinued,” the statement said.
Additionally, hundreds of temporary workers have had to leave the organization due to the funding shortfall.
“Overall, UNHCR estimates a global reduction in staffing costs of around 30 percent,” the agency said.
It said that programs ranging from financial aid to vulnerable families, health, education, and water and sanitation had already been affected by cuts.
UNHCR said it was working with other organizations and refugee-hosting countries to try to mitigate the impact on refugees.
UNHCR estimates that it will end 2025 with available funding at about the same level as a decade ago — despite the number of people forced to flee their homes having nearly doubled over the same period to more than 122 million.
“Even as we face painful cuts and lose so many dedicated colleagues, our commitment to refugees remains unshakeable,” said Grandi.
“Although resources are scarcer and our capacity to deliver is reduced, we will continue to work hard to respond to emergencies, protect the rights of refugees, and pursue solutions — including returning home, as nearly two million Syrians have done since December.”
Syria’s civil war erupted in 2011, and ruler Bashar Assad was overthrown in December 2024.
Sudan is now the world’s largest forced displacement situation, with its 14.3 million refugees and internally displaced people overtaking Syria (13.5 million), followed by Afghanistan (10.3 million) and Ukraine (8.8 million).
At the end of 2024, one in 67 people worldwide were forcibly displaced, UNHCR said Thursday.