US funding drops underneath Trump’s ‘America First’ agenda, forcing the Pink Cross into main world cutbacks.
Printed On 21 Nov 2025
The Worldwide Committee of the Pink Cross (ICRC) will impose deep cuts to its operations in 2026, slashing nearly one-fifth of its annual price range and shedding 2,900 jobs as world donors retreat from humanitarian financing.
“We face a harmful convergence of escalating armed conflicts, important cuts to assist funding and a systemic tolerance for grave breaches of worldwide humanitarian regulation,” ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric mentioned in an announcement on Friday.
Beneficial Tales
checklist of three gadgetsfinish of checklist
The organisation confirmed that its spending will fall to $2.2bn, warning that the broader support sector is dealing with a “monetary disaster of unprecedented proportions”.
A spokesperson mentioned the United States stays the ICRC’s largest donor however has diminished its contributions this yr, mirroring funding drops from different conventional backers, together with the UK and Germany.
“The ICRC stays dedicated to engaged on the entrance strains of battle, the place few others can function,” Spoljaric insisted, however warned that “the monetary actuality is forcing us to make tough selections to make sure we will proceed to ship vital humanitarian help to those that want it most.”
Governments are diverting budgets in direction of defence and safety, leaving humanitarian companies scrambling to maintain programmes whereas battle, displacement and want proceed to escalate.
‘America First’
The shift comes as Washington overhauls international help underneath President Donald Trump, whose “America First” agenda has reshaped spending priorities.
The mixed cuts have pressured the Geneva-based physique to roll out one among its most important restructurings in a long time. The job losses quantity to roughly 15 % of its 18,500-strong workforce and embrace about 200 posts in Geneva, the place the ICRC was based in 1863.
The organisation mentioned it’ll merge departments, streamline administration and concentrate on frontline battle operations to protect its core mission. Regardless of the diminished price range, the ICRC insisted it’ll keep its presence in Sudan, Ukraine, Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Round a 3rd of the employees reductions will come by means of voluntary departures or by leaving positions unfilled.
The ICRC, energetic in additional than 90 nations, helps civilians in battle zones, visits prisoners of conflict, and acts as a impartial middleman. It just lately facilitated the switch of Israeli captives from Gaza and Palestinians held in Israeli prisons underneath the phrases of an October 10 US-backed ceasefire in Israel’s conflict on Gaza.
