UNITED NATIONS, Dec 30 (APP): UN aid chief Tom Fletcher has welcomed United States’ “extraordinary” $2 billion commitment to the world body’s humanitarian action around the globe, as part of a deal aimed at streamlining the way international aid is distributed.
“The US has long been the world’s humanitarian superpower,” Fletcher, under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, said in a statement issued in Geneva on Monday.
“Hundreds of millions of people are alive today because of American generosity – and many millions more will survive in 2026 because of this landmark investment in humanity,” he added.
OCHA, run by Fletcher, a former British diplomat, announced last year a “humanitarian reset” to improve the efficiency of the department and the way it spends money, with US underscoring that UN agencies to “adapt, shrink or die” in a time of new financial realities.
The State Department said the new arrangement bolsters that effort.
In Geneva, the U.S. State Department and the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) signed a memorandum of understanding, creating a new umbrella fund from which OCHA can funnel U.S. and other aid to individual U.N. agencies, rather than U.S. responding to scattered appeals for aid.
The U.S. “anchor commitment” of $2 billion represents a significant reduction compared with past U.S. aid to U.N. agencies and comes as the Trump administration has slashed funding to international aid initiatives, analysts pointed out.
The State Department said voluntary contributions to the U.N. have reached $8 billion to $10 billion in recent years, while U.N. data shows total contributions have run as high as $17 billion annually.
But the State Department stressed the $2 billion will be more effectively used to address “life-saving” causes, and it maintains America’s status as the largest humanitarian donor in the world.
“The United States remains the most generous nation in the world for lifesaving humanitarian assistance—but under (Trump’s) leadership taxpayer dollars will never fund waste, anti-Americanism, or inefficiency,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement Monday.
Rubio said the new agreement “radically reforms the way the U.S. programmes, funds, and oversees UN-administered humanitarian work, ensuring that more lives will be saved for fewer U.S. taxpayer dollars.”
In his statement, Fletcher said, “Alongside generosity, reform is at the heart of the work ahead between the US, OCHA and the humanitarian system. US taxpayers deserve to know how their support is used, and we will show how every dollar delivers real lifesaving impact.
“By supporting country funds, the US is also placing a significant and encouraging vote of trust and confidence in the Humanitarian Reset, through which we are making humanitarian action faster, smarter and closer to the people on the front lines of emergencies,” he said.
“We’re cutting red tape, eliminating duplication and prioritizing hard as we set out to save 87 million lives in 2026.”
