United Nations relief chief Tom Fletcher is warning that the post-war international system is facing its "greatest test since its creation" and that the humanitarian community is confronting a massive crisis of "funding, morale and legitimacy". The stark warning comes as extreme funding cuts to humanitarian aid by the United States are starting to have a devastating impact around the world, putting hundreds of thousands of lives at risk and leaving tens of millions without access to the aid they desperately need.
Even before the recent events, the global humanitarian system was facing a massive funding crisis after years of growing needs and donors unable or unwilling to respond to those in need. For years, the United States has been the world's leading donor to humanitarian causes, followed by the European Union and its member states.
Last year, the US accounted for more than 40 percent of global humanitarian funding tracked by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
“The postwar international system faces the greatest test since its creation. The humanitarian community confronts a massive funding, morale, and legitimacy crisis,” Tom Fletcher, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, told the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) on Thursday.
The Inter-Agency Standing Committee is the longest-standing and highest-level humanitarian coordination forum worldwide, bringing together the executive heads of 18 UN and non-UN organizations. The IASC was established in June 1992, following a UN General Assembly resolution.
Against the backdrop of the suspension of most humanitarian spending by the new US administration in Washington, Fletcher urged the humanitarian community to be “calm, brave, principled, and united,” without mentioning the US.
“We must win afresh the argument for international solidarity. We can draw confidence from extraordinary progress made by humanitarians over decades. The mission is right. Our allies are still out there,” he said.
The Emergency Relief Coordinator said the humanitarian community must do four things as a priority.
“First, it is vital to be clear on why we are here: saving lives. We agreed to remain independent, neutral, and impartial. This does not mean we do not pick a side: we are on the side of those in greatest need,” he said.
His second point was the need to reduce duplication and bureaucracy, and to make the system more effective and efficient.
“Donors must simplify too. We must innovate or become obsolete. We will prioritize robustly, and make the toughest choices,” Fletcher adding, noting that he has commissioned urgent work to identify “how we could reach the 100 million people in greatest need”.
According to the United Nations, some 307 million people around the world are in need of humanitarian assistance and protection at the beginning of 2025, meaning that hundreds of millions of people could go without assistance this year.
Fletcher said humanitarian agencies will not be able to rely on traditional funding sources and governments, and will need to find new partners, including the private sector and the World Bank.
“I believe there is a movement of billions of people who care, and who want to act in solidarity with those in most need. We should launch a public campaign to fill in the gaps left by governments, targeting the equivalent of 0.7 percent for each country,” Fletcher suggested.
The UN relief chief reported that he had spoken to all Humanitarian Coordinators before the IASC meeting "to hear what they need" and would bring them together again to set out how the Inter-Agency Standing Committee would support them.
Fletcher's third point was that there needs to be more decentralization, giving more power and accountability to local aid agencies "who are bearing the brunt" of the cuts. Humanitarian action should be "much closer to the people we serve."
“Where we stop work, we will stop it well. Creating the chance for others to take up the effort. Doing no harm. Leaving the means to scale back up in better times,” he added.
The fourth point he raised was the need for aid workers to defend their work more robustly.
“We need to call time on the era of impunity: end attacks on civilians and aid workers; and hold perpetrators to account. We must communicate more clearly the impact we have and the cost of inaction, with humanity not institutions at the heart of the story,” Fletcher said.
“This is not a drill,” he emphasized. “We are underfunded, overstretched and under attack. But we have not lost the argument. Our cause is mighty, and our movement is strong.”
Further information:
Full text: Statement by Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher - Humanitarian Reset, Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC), remarks, published February 20, 2025
https://interagencystandingcommittee.org/inter-agency-standing-committee/statement-emergency-relief-coordinator-tom-fletcher-humanitarian-reset-0