GENEVA (AP) In reference to the difficulties in generating funds for civilians in conflict areas such as Gaza, Sudan, Syria, and Ukraine, the newly appointed director of the U.N. humanitarian relief agency warns the organization will be brutal in deciding how to allocate funds.
According to veteran British diplomat Tom Fletcher, who assumed the U.N. position last month, his organization is requesting less funding in 2025 than it is this year. According to him, it aims to demonstrate that, despite the fact that crises are becoming more frequent, severe, and protracted, we will concentrate on using the resources at our disposal.
Although it estimates that 305 million people globally require assistance, his organization, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, released its global plea for 2025 on Wednesday, asking for $47 billion to aid 190 million people in 32 countries.
He told reporters on Tuesday, “This is how we put out the world that is on fire.”
Donations to established conflict areas like Syria, South Sudan, the Middle East, and Congo, as well as more recent ones like Ukraine and Sudan, have decreased recently, according to the office and numerous other assistance organizations, including the worldwide Red Cross. Access to aid has been challenging in several areas, like Gaza and Sudan.
FILE – Palestinians line up for food distribution in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, on Oct. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana, File)
Image courtesy of Abdel Kareem Hana/Associated Press
As of last month, barely 43 percent of the office’s $50 billion request for this year had been met. Food aid for Syria, which has suffered a rapid escalation in warfare in recent days, was cut by 80% as a result of that shortfall.
These monies support over 1,500 partner organizations and U.N. agencies.
The largest requests for 2025 consist of $8.7 billion for Syria’s internal needs and those of its neighbors who have taken in Syrian refugees, $6 billion for Sudan, $4 billion for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, roughly $3.3 billion for Ukraine, and nearly $3.2 billion for Congo.
According to Fletcher, his office must exercise brutality when deciding which individuals are most in need.
He stated, “I chose that word carefully because it’s a judgment call that ruthlessness about prioritizing where the funding goes and where we can have the greatest impact.” It s a recognition that we have struggled in previous years to raise the money we need.
In response to questions about how much President-elect Donald Trump of the United States the U.N. s biggest single donor will spend on humanitarian aid, Fletcher said he expects to spend a lot of time in Washington over the next few months to talk with the new administration.
America is very much on our minds at the moment, he said, acknowledging some governments will be more questioning of what the United Nations does and less ideologically supportive of this humanitarian effort laid out in the new report.
This year has been the deadliest on record for humanitarians and U.N. staff, largely due to the Middle East conflict triggered by Palestinian militants deadly Oct. 7, 2023 attack in Israel.
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