Collection must be limited due to cuts in foreign aid in many states
A criticized this Monday (8) the global “apathy” in the face of suffering by presenting his for 2026, which will be limited due to cuts in foreign aid by many States.
“We are in a period of brutality, impunity and indifference,” said Tom Fletcher, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator.
The Briton criticized “the ferocity and intensity of the murders, the complete disregard for international law, the horrific levels of sexual violence” he witnessed in 2025.
Despite the crisis, in 2025 the UN managed to raise only 12 billion dollars (65 billion reais) of the 45 billion (R$245 billion) requested, the lowest level in a decade, according to the organization. The amount helped only 98 million people, 25 million less than last year.
“It is a period in which the rules are being thrown back, in which the structure of coexistence is under constant attack, in which our survival instincts have been dulled by distraction and corroded by apathy,” said Fletcher.
For 2026, the UN presented a limited plan to raise at least 23 billion dollars (125 billion reais) and help 87 million people in the most dangerous places in the world, such as the Gaza Strip, Ukraine, Sudan, Haiti and Myanmar.
The UN aspires to raise 33 billion dollars (180 billion reais) to help 135 million people in 2026, but is aware that achieving the objective will be difficult due to cuts in foreign aid by the president of the United States,
Fletcher said the limited funding objective meant very difficult decisions. He said he hoped Washington would recognize the reforms adopted to improve efficiency and return to “renew its commitment” to assistance.
The United Nations estimates that 240 million people in conflict zones, affected by epidemics or victims of natural disasters and climate change, need emergency assistance.
Drop in donations
According to UN data, the United States government continues to be the main donor of humanitarian aid in the world, but the value fell drastically in 2025, to 2.7 billion dollars (14 billion reais), compared to 11 billion (R$60 billion) in 2024.
Among the priorities for 2026 are Gaza and the West Bank. The UN requests a total of 4.1 billion dollars (22 billion reais) for the Palestinian territories to provide assistance to three million people.
Another country with urgent needs is Sudan, where civil war has displaced millions of people. The UN hopes to raise 2.9 billion dollars (R$15 billion) to help 20 million people in the country.
In Tawila, where residents of the Sudanese town of El Fasher sought refuge after episodes of ethnic violence, Fletcher met a young mother who saw the murders of her husband and son.
She fled with her dead neighbors’ two-month-old, malnourished baby. The young woman followed what the Brit called “the most dangerous highway in the world” until she reached Tawila. “Men attacked her, raped her, broke her leg, and yet something held her firm amid the horror and brutality,” said the undersecretary.
“Does anyone, wherever they come from, whatever they believe in, how they vote, not believe that we should be there for them?” he asked.
If the UN is unable to raise enough, Fletcher intends to expand the campaign and appeal to civil society, the business world and the general population, who, in his opinion, are saturated with misinformation that wrongly suggests that their taxes are destined entirely abroad.
“We are asking for just over 1% of what the world currently spends on armaments and defense,” Fletcher said. “I’m not asking people to choose between a hospital in Brooklyn and a hospital in Kandahar, I’m asking the world to spend less on defense and more on humanitarian aid,” he added.
*With AFP
