GENEVA: The United Nations said on Monday that it was drastically scaling back its global humanitarian aid plans due to the “deepest funding cuts ever”, leaving tens of millions of people facing dire straits.

The UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said it was seeking $29 billion in funding for 2025 compared to the $44bn originally requested in December, in a “hyper-prioritised” appeal.

UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, said later on Monday that it would have to terminate 3,500 jobs, cutting 30 percent of its workforce costs, as aid funding evaporates.

Since US President Donald Trump returned to office in January, the United States — the world’s top donor — has heavily slashed foreign aid, causing havoc in the humanitarian sector across the globe.

“Brutal funding cuts leave us with brutal choices,” OCHA chief Tom Fletcher said in a statement.

Almost halfway through 2025, the UN has received only $5.6bn out of the $44bn originally sought for this year — a mere 13pc.

“We have been forced into a triage of human survival,” Fletcher said on Monday. The mathematics “is cruel, and the consequences are heartbreaking”.

Aid will now be directed so that it can “reach the people and places facing the most urgent needs”, with those in “extreme or catastrophic conditions” as the starting point, said Fletcher.

His call came as the FAO and WFP issued a joint early warning report identifying worsening hunger in 13 hotspots.

Sudan, the Palestinian territories, South Sudan, Haiti and Mali have communities “already facing famine, at risk of famine or confronted with catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity”, said the report.

Published in Dawn, June 17th, 2025