New York (Web Desk): The global humanitarian system is at a breaking point, as significant funding cuts are forcing aid organizations to make life-or-death decisions about which programs to keep running and which to shut down.
The United Nations (UN) Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Tom Fletcher, while addressing a press conference at UN Headquarters in New York on Wednesday, stated that the current crisis is the most severe challenge to international humanitarian work since World War II.
He described the situation as "the pace and scale of the funding cuts are a seismic shock to the sector … many will die because aid is drying up."
Fletcher explained that humanitarian workers had already been operating under immense pressure, with the previous year being the deadliest on record for them, and now, "programmes are shutting down, staff are being laid off, and we are being forced to choose which lives to prioritize."
Humanitarian efforts are taking place against a backdrop of growing conflicts, economic downturns, and climate shocks that have left millions more people in need of help. However, despite this urgent need, the UN and its partners are facing significant funding shortfalls, forcing them to make painful decisions.
He pointed out that in February alone, 10 percent of humanitarian NGO workers lost their jobs because of these funding gaps, while UN agencies have been forced to reduce their life-saving operations across several nations.
Fletcher stressed that "for the people we serve, these cuts are not abstract budget numbers – they are a matter of survival."
As the crisis deepens, Fletcher, who also heads the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC), revealed a 10-point plan focused on two main actions: regrouping and renewal. The regrouping strategy calls for prioritizing life-saving aid, cutting down on operations that can no longer be sustained under the current funding constraints, and streamlining efforts.
On the renewal side, Fletcher's plan seeks to reform the humanitarian system, improve efficiency, and build new partnerships to find alternative sources of funding.
A key element of this renewal is a focus on shifting power to local leadership, with Fletcher instructing humanitarian teams in crisis-affected areas to prioritize funding for local and national organizations.
"We must shift power to our humanitarian leaders in-country and, ultimately, to the people we serve," he said.
Acknowledging that difficult decisions lie ahead, Fletcher urged humanitarian organizations to be "ruthless" in eliminating inefficiencies and to focus only on the most crucial interventions.
As part of the plan, UN humanitarian coordinators in countries facing crises have been asked to submit revised strategies outlining how they will prioritize life-saving actions while scaling down or discontinuing operations that cannot be maintained.
Fletcher concluded by emphasizing that the mission of the humanitarian community remains clear: "to save as many lives as we can with the resources we have – not the resources we wish we had."