The United States administration’s sudden and sweeping suspension of foreign aid has placed millions of lives in peril, according to the human rights organization Amnesty International. In a report released Thursday, Amnesty paints a damning picture of how the abrupt cuts have gutted critical health and humanitarian programs globally, leaving millions facing life-threatening situations.
Amnesty alleges that this decision, made without transparency or due process, violates international human rights law and undermines decades of American global leadership in development and humanitarian response. The group warns that the scale of the cuts has already caused preventable deaths and left vulnerable populations, including women, children, and refugees, without access to lifesaving support.
“The decision to cut these programs so abruptly and in this untransparent manner violates international human rights law which the US is bound by and undermines decades of US leadership in global humanitarian and development efforts,” said Amanda Klasing, national director of government relations and advocacy with Amnesty International USA.
“While US funding over the decades has had a complex relationship with human rights, the scale and suddenness of these current cuts have created a life-threatening vacuum that other governments and aid organizations are not realistically able to fill in the immediate term, violating the rights to life and health, and dignity for millions.”
The cuts follow an executive order signed by the new US president on January 20, 2025, as well as follow-up directives targeting specific aid programs. For decades, the United States has been the world’s largest donor of humanitarian assistance.
During a congressional appearance last week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio provided what Amnesty International described as "weak or incomplete" responses to lawmakers' concerns and made false claims, such as stating that no deaths had been linked to the funding suspensions.
The cuts have caused significant global harm in at least two key areas: the forced cutbacks to — or complete closure of — programs that provided healthcare and treatment to marginalized people, as well as to those supporting migrants and people seeking safety in countries around the world.
The report highlights several examples of this harmful impact.
In Haiti, for instance, funding for health and post-rape services has been cut, including for child survivors of sexual violence. Cuts to HIV funding have reduced access to prevention and treatment for women, girls, and LGBTI (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transsexual/Transgender and Intersexual) people.
In Guatemala, support services for survivors of sexual violence, including nutrition and healthcare for pregnant minors, have been disrupted. HIV prevention and treatment programs have also been halted.
In South Africa, where HIV rates are among the highest in the world, funding for programs targeting vulnerable children and survivors of gender-based violence has been cut entirely.
In Syria, ambulance services and health clinics inside the Al-Hol detention camp, home to more than 36,000 people, mostly children, have been shut down.
In Yemen, lifesaving assistance and protection services have been shut down. These services included malnutrition treatment for children and pregnant or breastfeeding mothers, safe shelters for survivors of gender-based violence, and healthcare for children with cholera and other diseases.
In South Sudan, projects providing health services, including rehabilitation for victims of armed conflict, clinical services for victims of gender-based violence, psychological support for rape survivors, and emergency nutritional support for children, have stopped.
Aid suspensions have also had devastating consequences for refugees and internally displaced people in humanitarian crises around the world.
In Afghanistan, for instance, over 120,000 displaced people lost access to housing, food, legal aid, and healthcare referrals when more than half of the country’s community resource centers were forced to close.
In Thailand and Myanmar, clinics in border camps that served displaced Rohingya and other ethnic minorities abruptly closed after funding ended. Amnesty International documented preventable deaths as a direct consequence of the closures.
“The right to seek safety is protected under international law, which the United States is bound by,” said Klasing.
“These abrupt cuts in funding put that right at risk by undermining the humanitarian support and infrastructure that enables people around the world who have been forcibly displaced to access protection, placing already marginalized people in acute danger.”
The executive order has drawn criticism not only for its implications for human rights and humanitarian aid, but also for its potential violation of US domestic law. The decision to freeze and redirect congressionally appropriated funds raises questions about executive overreach and the undermining of congressional oversight.
The rights group notes that this move aligns with a broader pattern of American disengagement from multilateral cooperation.
In recent months, the US government has announced its intention to withdraw from or defund several key global institutions, including the Paris Climate Agreement, the World Health Organization (WHO), the UN Human Rights Council, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
Amnesty International is urging the US administration to immediately restore funding to critical programs using available legal mechanisms.
The human rights organization also calls on the US Congress to reject any attempts to codify the aid cuts and reassert its role in ensuring that US foreign assistance aligns with human rights obligations and humanitarian principles and is allocated according to need.
Additionally, Amnesty has called on other donor countries to help fill the funding gap. Donor states should increase support to help fill the critical shortfalls caused by abrupt aid suspensions and ensure continued progress in protecting human rights and providing effective humanitarian responses worldwide.
“It is a false choice that the US government has to choose between addressing the economic needs of Americans or the rising cost of living here in the US and development and humanitarian assistance abroad,” said Klasing.
“Foreign assistance represents about one percent of the US budget, and the US has a global responsibility and interest in providing support to the most marginalized. […] The US government can – and must – do better.”
Amnesty's warning is clear: the United States' chaotic retreat from its role as a leader in providing humanitarian aid endangers the lives and rights of millions and may have devastating, long-lasting consequences.
Amnesty International is not the only organization warning about brutal aid cuts; dozens of humanitarian organizations have voiced deep concern about the implications for those most in need worldwide.
The United Nations' humanitarian chief recently warned that millions of people worldwide will die due to the critical global humanitarian funding crisis, which was triggered by the new US administration's drastic cuts to humanitarian aid funding.
Global humanitarian funding plummeted in 2025, largely due to extreme cuts in US funding, but other major donors, such as the United Kingdom and Germany, have also scaled back their support. Though global funding has been declining since 2022 despite rising needs, this year's levels are expected to drop to record lows.
Further information
Full text: Lives at risk: Chaotic and abrupt cuts to foreign aid put millions of lives at risk, Amnesty International, research briefing, published May 29, 2025
https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/amr51/9408/2025/en/