The UN Human Rights Office will close several of its important programs, including assistance to torture victims in Iraq, due to a significant reduction in funding from the United States.
Reuters reports this.
According to UN human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani, projects in Equatorial Guinea, Iraq, Ukraine and Colombia are at risk. The cuts will also affect a special fund to support indigenous peoples.
All of these initiatives previously received funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the US Department of State.
"There are some countries where we will have to reduce some of our work, including in Colombia and Iraq, and in other places we are trying to reallocate funding," she told reporters in Geneva.
The program in Iraq, which helped torture victims and families of missing people, will be completely closed, she added, without providing other details.
The UN Human Rights Office has offices and teams around the world that document violations, assist people in unlawful detention, and protect human rights defenders.
Washington was previously the largest donor to the UN Human Rights Office, providing nearly 14% of its budget last year in addition to mandatory UN contributions.
- On January 20, inauguration day, US President Donald Trump froze USAID initiatives for 90 days. After that, the Agencyʼs employees began to be placed on administrative leave without pay.
- On March 10, the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio reported that the US was officially closing 83% of USAID programs.
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