An UN spokesperson announced Tuesday that USAID funding cancellations have resulted in the closure of a UN human rights program intended on helping torture victims and the families of missing persons in Iraq.
Speaking to the media at a Geneva press conference, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani stated, “Now was time for more investment in human rights, not less, to help in preventing conflicts and resolving crises.” In a similar vein, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk has requested all states increase their investments in human rights.
The program was created after the OHCHR urged a legislative and investigative approach into Iraq’s large quantity of missing persons. The OHCHR attributes the disproportionate number to torture and forced disappearances during the prior Ba’athist regime, the US invasion of Iraq, and ISIS activity within the country.
The funding cuts were the result of a recent Trump administration executive order freezing all USAID disbursements for 90 days, subject to review for “programmatic efficiency” and “consistency with United States foreign policy.” The cuts have resulted in the cancellation of around 230 different USAID grants and contracts, leading to cuts and cancellations across multiple NGO and UN humanitarian programmes. In response, USAID employees successfully sought an injunction against ceasing “critical” government support abroad such as communications and security support. Subsequent lawsuits have failed, however, at ordering the release of funds for specific projects.
The UN, Amnesty International, and other major aid organizations have raised concerns that such an abrupt cut to international foreign aid would lead to humanitarian disaster, as nearly 47 percent of global humanitarian aid is US-funded, as attested by a series of other prominent closures following from the order, including the South Africa office of the UN World Food Programme.