According to internal U.N. communications released by HeadlinesForever Digital, the United Nations Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS) is being profoundly affected by the Trump administration’s decision to reduce funding for USAID through Elon Musk’s DOGE.
Early Friday morning, Milan Victor Dawoh, president of the U.N. Field Staff Union, issued an email explaining that a substantial decrease in personnel was caused by the removal of “approximately $30 million” from the extra-budgetary (XB) resources as a result of the USAID funding cut.
The United Nations “is presently experiencing its worst liquidity crisis since its establishment,” according to Dawoh’s email. We anticipate that things will continue to worsen before they get better.
As per Dawoh’s announcement, UNDSS would be cutting 100 jobs and pulling out of 35 to 45 nations. However, “regional hubs” will be set up “in the remaining 120 countries where UNDSS will maintain a presence.”
“The [under secretary-general of UNDSS] emphasized that UNDSS is not a protection agency but a risk management and analysis entity,” according to the email. “This distinction should be clearly communicated to staff.”
Website content from the Department states that the UNDSS is “a global leader in security risk management principles” and that it “enables the safe and effective delivery of United Nations programmes and activities in the most complex and challenging environments, while maximizing resources.”
News headlinesDawoh did not respond when Forever Digital urged him to verify the email’s legitimacy and reveal how much of the UNDSS money came from USAID.
Ahead of budget cutbacks in the United States, UN Secretary-General António Guterres issued a dire warning, saying, “going through with recent funding cuts will make the world less healthy, less safe, and less prosperous.”
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres’s Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq said HeadlinesForever Digital that USAID only provided UNDSS with around $20 million in funding last year. “USAID informed us that some of this funding has been terminated; other projects will continue with USAID support,” according to him.
But according to Haq, “extra budgetary funding from USAID is a relatively small proportion of the Department’s budget, most of which comes from the U.N. regular budget, a U.N. cost-sharing mechanism, and the peace support account.” This contradicts Dawoh’s email, which suggests that the UNDSS’s funding cut is due to a reduction in extra-budgetary resources.
He claims that 2,250 people work at UNDSS all across the world, “supporting the security of — and enabling operations by — 180,000 U.N. personnel.” As Haq pointed out, “a far smaller percentage in New York HQ compared to the majority in the field” inside the Department. Effective security is a human right for United Nations officials working to save lives in the most hazardous areas on Earth.
According to Haq, the March 19 email that was issued to various UN mailing lists and mentioned the closing of one staff entry to UN headquarters due to financial issues had nothing to do with UNDSS. It is not USAID that pays for the UN Headquarters, Haq said. Instead, he blamed the non-payment of dues by many member nations for the temporary shutdown.
An anonymous United Nations official stated that, due to the current economic climate, UN employees “are very fearful of their immediate future.” According to the source, some of the worries include the ability to access their UN Federal Credit Union accounts and receive pensions. According to the source, “most of these staffers that are losing their jobs are.. on G-4 visas,” meaning that the move might potentially affect their eligibility to remain in the U.S.
This has ramifications beyond the simple elimination of individual employment opportunities. In the next weeks, more cuts will affect U.N. organizations, and this can have a huge effect on families.
News headlinesAfter contacting the State Department, Forever Digital did not hear back on the effects of layoffs on employees.
President Trump signed an executive order one month ago requesting a review of UN financing, and now there are calls for more reform of the UN. Trump stated back then that the international organization “has tremendous potential” but is “not being well run.”