WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The UN refugee agency has announced that it is cutting global staffing costs by around 30 per cent, following a comprehensive review of its activities, spending, staffing and structure, prompted by major funding shortfalls.
This will entail cutting just under half of all senior positions at the agency's Geneva headquarters and regional bureaus.
Around 3,500 permanent staff posts have been discontinued, hundreds of temporary staff positions have been terminated, and some offices have been downsized or closed worldwide.
According to the review report, decisions on where to cut costs were guided by the priority to maintain operations in regions with the most urgent refugee needs.
UNHCR had warned in March that severe funding cuts were putting millions of refugee lives at risk, with immediate and devastating consequences.
The agency anticipates it will end the year with available funding at roughly the same level as a decade ago - despite the number of refugees forced to flee having nearly doubled in that time to more than 122 million.
'In light of difficult financial realities, UNHCR is compelled to reduce the overall scale of its operations,' said Filippo Grandi, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
'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,' he added.
On Monday, facing the most severe funding shortfall in the history of humanitarian aid, UN relief chief Tom Fletcher announced a 'hyper-prioritized' appeal for $29 billion to meet urgent global needs.
'Brutal funding cuts leave us with brutal choices,' said Fletcher. 'All we ask is one per cent of what you chose to spend last year on war. But this isn't just an appeal for money - it's a call for global responsibility, for human solidarity, for a commitment to end the suffering.'
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