Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on December 10, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 20, 2026
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The UN human rights office is in 'survival mode' due to $90 million in funding cuts, affecting operations and increasing human rights violations globally.
By Olivia Le Poidevin
GENEVA, Dec 10 (Reuters) - United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk said on Wednesday that his office was in "survival mode" due to major funding cuts from global donors, while rights violations and needs in conflict-affected areas surge.
"Our resources have been slashed, along with funding for human rights organisations – including at the grassroots level – around the world. We are in survival mode," the high commissioner for the U.N. human rights office (OHCHR) told reporters.
OHCHR has $90 million less in funding than it needed this year, which resulted in 300 jobs cuts, directly impacting the office's work, Turk said.
"Essential work has had to be cut, including on Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Myanmar, Tunisia and other countries at a time when the needs are rising," Turk said.
He said country visits by UN special rapporteurs, who are independent experts, as well as investigative missions by fact-finding bodies have been reduced, while dialogues with states on their compliance with UN human rights treaties have had to be postponed, with the number of state parties reviews falling to 103 from 145.
"All this has extensive ripple effects on international and national efforts to protect human rights," Turk said, pointing to grave human rights concerns in Sudan, Gaza and Ukraine.
"I am extremely worried that we might see in Kordofan a repeat of the atrocities that have been committed in al-Fashir," he said, referring to the conflict in Sudan.
Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces took over Darfur's city of al-Fashir in late October in one of its biggest gains of the two-and-a-half-year war with Sudan's army. This month, advances have continued eastward into the Kordofan region, and they seized the country's biggest oil field.
Russia's increased use of powerful long-range weapons had driven a sharp rise in civilian casualties in Ukraine - with these rising 24% from the same period last year, he said.
(Reporting by Olivia Le PoidevinEditing by Madeline Chambers, Miranda Murray)
The UN human rights office, also known as the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), is responsible for promoting and protecting human rights globally.
Funding cuts refer to the reduction of financial resources allocated to an organization or program, which can impact its operations and effectiveness.
A UN Special Rapporteur is an independent expert appointed by the UN to examine and report on specific human rights issues or situations.
Funding cuts can severely limit the capacity of human rights organizations to operate, conduct investigations, and provide assistance in conflict-affected areas.
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