UN agency warns of impact on migrants as US cuts force shutdowns

By Emma Farge

GENEVA (Reuters) -The U.N. migration agency said on Tuesday that unprecedented cuts in donor funding this year will force it to scale back or shut down projects around the world, resulting in a severe impact on migrants.

The International Organization for Migration said it expected funding to be reduced by a record 30% this year due to a major decrease in U.S.-financed projects after President Donald Trump announced a major overhaul of aid funding.

This would mean scaling back or ending projects affecting over 6,000 staff worldwide and more than 250 at its Geneva headquarters, IOM said, without giving a full breakdown or details of the projects hit.

"The reduction in funding has severe impacts on vulnerable migrant communities, exacerbating humanitarian crises and undermining vital support systems for displaced populations," IOM said in a statement.

A record 123 million people are forcibly displaced around the world by conflict, climate change and disasters, and the figure is set to rise. IOM seeks to ensure humane and orderly migration for them and intervenes where needed.

Since 2023, it has been led by American Amy Pope who was a White House adviser to U.S. President Joe Biden, raising questions about how both she and the institution would fare under his successor Trump. The United States is by far its leading donor, providing over $1.4 billion in 2023.

The IOM said migration was central to global security and stability.

"The international community must not sideline migration governance. Addressing forced displacement, climate-induced disasters, and mobility is not only a humanitarian imperative but also essential to future global stability," it added. 

Other programmes helping refugees and migrants have been hit by funding shortages this year. The U.N. refugee agency said cuts had shuttered programmes to protect adolescent girls from child marriage in South Sudan and a safe house for displaced women in danger of being killed in Ethiopia.

(Reporting by Emma Farge, editing by Friederike Heine, Thomas Seythal abd Ed Osmond)