CEOs of ACT EU members are among 100+ organisations who added their support to the VOICE Open Letter to EU Leaders following the drastic cuts by USAID. VOICE – the European humanitarian NGO network – led the call for EU leaders to use all means possible to stand by crises-affected communities.
Despite the 307,6 million people projected to need urgent humanitarian assistance and protection in 2025, the USAID suspensions to funding have resulted in 10,000 terminations to contracts. Deep cuts to aid budgets by traditional leaders of global humanitarian and development ODA have come thick and fast: Caritas this week highlighted the further $12.5 billion lost due to cuts in 5 European countries.
The collective call to humanity reminds EU leaders both of the bloc’s founding values of solidarity as well as moral and Treaty commitments to eradication of poverty and human rights.
The three asks detailed in the letter exhort the EU to:
- Buck the trends and adopt bold funding decisions commensurate with the staggering scale of needs globally.
- Dialogue and listen carefully to partners local, national and international to jointly find solutions and flexibilities required.
- Play a leading role in the global arena over the long term: “to take the lead as a convener of a global strategic dialogue to shape a principled, sustainable and flexible new humanitarian system”
Read the full letter and signatories here.
See also the statement of the ACT Alliance General Secretary on the impacts of the policies for humanitarian aid.
