After chaos of US cuts, aid chiefs urge world leaders at UN to step up

19/9/2025 7:30

United Nations aid chief Tom Fletcher hopes the world body will fight back against a "sustained attack" on its values and finances next week at an annual gathering of world leaders, and said humanitarians could not afford to wait for the U.S. to restore funding.



Aid worker killings rose nearly a third to almost 400 last year, the most deadly year since records began in 1997, according to U.N. data. Then in January, U.S. President Donald Trump returned to power and slashed U.S. foreign aid, sparking global humanitarian chaos.



"It has been a really rough year," Fletcher told Reuters in an interview on Thursday, adding the U.N. should show world leaders how it can save lives and work to end conflicts.



"We reckon that the support is out there. I don't think there is less support for kindness, compassion, global solidarity than there was just because of the results of a few elections."



He remains hopeful that Washington, which was the world's biggest humanitarian aid donor, could be convinced to restore and continue some funding, "but in the meantime, we can't wait."