Why humanitarian aid still matters in 2025 when the world turns away by Christian Modino Hok Humanitarian Director at Caritas Internationalis   1 Sep. 2025   Every year on World Humanitarian Day, we stop for a moment. To honour those who’ve lost their lives in service, and those who keep showing up, day after day, on the frontlines of crisis. It’s not about ceremony. Or applause. It’s about bearing witness to courage, and standing with those who choose compassion when everything around them is falling apart.   But this year feels different. Heavier. More fractured. The sorrow hits harder, not because the crises in Gaza, Sudan, the DRC, Ukraine, Myanmar, or Haiti are new. They’re not. But the violence… It’s escalated beyond what we thought possible. The brutality is deeper. The scale, honestly, staggering.   We’re not just watching suffering, we’re watching the slow unravelling of the very principles meant to protect civilians. International law is being tested in ways we haven’t seen before. The international humanitarian and human rights norms we rely on, against repression, abuse, and dehumanization, are being stretched to the breaking point.   And still, humanitarians show up. Often with barely any protection. Often with almost no resources. Because for them, this work isn’t symbolic, it’s survival. For the communities they serve, it’s the last lifeline.   On this day we honour the 248 humanitarians who lost their lives and 196 others wounded, kidnapped or detained so far in 2025 alone, 95% of them local workers, a disheartening record high and sobering reminder of the risks borne by those closest to the crisis.   This day is a reminder: we owe them more than recognition. We owe them action. We owe them systems that actually work, laws that actually hold, and solidarity that doesn’t vanish when the headlines fade.   The humanitarian system is being dismantled right in front of us. Gaza has become a death trap disguised as aid. Sudan’s warlords cut off relief while the world just watches. Haiti’s gangs run the show, and the international community shrugs. In the DRC, millions flee while donors quietly cut and run. Myanmar’s junta starves its own people, and no one stops them. Yemen bleeds out slowly, forgotten.   The International Criminal Court gets punished for chasing war criminals. The EU dithers and deflects. And the UN Security Council, paralyzed, vetoed into silence.   These aren’t just failures. They are choices. Governments are walking away from the laws they wrote. Institutions are either too compromised or too afraid to act. Civilians are left to die. Aid workers are left to pick up the pieces, with no protection, no funding, no backup.   The message is clear: the norms meant to protect civilians are being eroded. Without action, they won’t survive.   So on this day we remind ourselves that we need and have to keep fighting, to strengthen and protect what works and change what doesn’t.   Protect the humanitarian Principles: they aren’t abstract ideals, they’re the difference between life and death. Impartiality means aid goes where it’s needed, not where it’s politically convenient. That’s how trust is built. That’s how dignity is preserved. Neutrality isn’t passivity, it’s what allows access when diplomacy collapses. Humanity is the guiding force behind our every response: medics working under fire, counselors supporting survivors of sexual violence, volunteers reuniting families, staff distributing food to people who’ve lost everything.   These principles live through people. Real people. Doctors, nurses, social workers, community leaders, faith groups. Often unpaid. Often unrecognized. In places like Sudan, where entire communities have been displaced, it’s these individuals who stay, long after the spotlight fades.   But principles alone don’t feed families. Aid does. When it’s allowed in. When it’s funded properly. And aid isn’t charity. It’s infrastructure. It’s stability. When governments support principled humanitarian action, they’re not just doing the right thing, they’re investing in resilience, peace, and social cohesion.   We’ve seen it work. In South Sudan, aid helped avert famine and kept fragile peace talks alive. In Bangladesh, it stabilized the Rohingya crisis. In West Africa, it stopped Ebola from becoming a global catastrophe. In Syria and Türkiye, it prevented secondary displacement after earthquakes. In Ukraine, it’s helped preserve civil society under siege.   But the system is under strain. Conflicts are intensifying. Climate shocks are accelerating. Displacement is rising. And funding is falling. Governments are slashing aid budgets, forcing humanitarian actors to make impossible choices. The current model is struggling to keep up.   So yes, the sector has to adapt. And the calls for change both inside and outside the sector are getting louder. In 2025, global summits and consultations are demanding real reform, faster, bolder, more decisive. From simplifying coordination systems to prioritizing protection and securing more flexible funding, the agenda is packed. But one shift stands out: putting communities at the center of humanitarian response.   When local people lead, drawing on their knowledge, their networks, their trust, the results are faster, more cost-effective, and better aligned with long-term goals. It’s not just more efficient. It’s fairer. More dignified. And absolutely essential to closing the widening resource gap, with over $35 billion in unmet needs.   This is a moment for leadership. For recommitting to the principles that define humanitarian action. For investing in systems that protect lives and uphold dignity. Because in the end, humanitarian aid isn’t just about relief, it’s about resilience. Justice. Hope.   To governments around the world: this isn’t just a moral imperative. It’s a strategic investment. Humanitarian aid stabilizes fragile regions, prevents the spread of conflict, and lays the groundwork for recovery and peace. It reduces forced displacement, mitigates climate shocks, and strengthens civil society. Every dollar spent on principled aid today saves exponentially more in future military interventions, refugee crises, and economic fallout.   When humanitarian systems collapse, instability spreads. When communities are abandoned, extremism fills the void. When dignity is denied, trust erodes, and rebuilding it takes generations.   Investing in aid means investing in global security, economic stability, and human potential. It’s a commitment to a rules-based world where compassion isn’t weakness but strength.   Protect the principles. Help build a future where humanitarian action isn’t the last resort but the foundation.   And to anyone wondering if this work still matters, yes. It does. It’s a real expression of justice, solidarity, and humanity. Doing what’s fair isn’t just policy, it’s a promise. A promise to keep showing up, even when the world turns away.   http://www.caritas.org/2025/09/why-humanitarian-aid-still-matters-in-2025-when-the-world-turns-away/ Visit the related web page
	Foreign Aid cuts threaten human rights globally by OHCHR, NRC, MSF, Amnesty, agencies   July 2025   Six Months into his Presidency, Donald Trump has Created a Global Humanitarian Catastrophe, writes Olivier De Schutter - United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights.   As the UN’s independent expert on poverty, I am no stranger to harrowing statistics. But few numbers have shaken me like those emerging in the wake of the Trump administration’s suspension of U.S. foreign aid. According to new estimates published in The Lancet, these funding cuts could result in more than 14 million deaths by 2030, a third of them young children.   These deaths will not be the result of droughts, earthquakes, pandemics, or war. They will be the direct consequence of a single, lethal decision made by one of the wealthiest men to ever walk this planet.   On his first day back in the White House, President Donald Trump handed a death sentence to millions of people. Hours after taking office on January 20, 2025, he signed Executive Order 14169, ordering a pause on billions of dollars of foreign aid under the guise of a “90-day review” to ensure aid was aligned with his “America First” approach.   Six months later, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has been dissolved, and the entirety of America’s global humanitarian aid workforce will be terminated over the summer. The findings of the “review” have not been published.   Until the U.S. State Department releases a full assessment report, one can only conclude that the decisions to suspend foreign aid and subsequently dismantle USAID were made in an environment of zero transparency, zero accountability, and with no clear justification for a decision that will ultimately cost millions of lives.   What was billed as a temporary policy reassessment has transformed over the first half of 2025 into a full-blown humanitarian emergency. Estimates put the death toll since the aid freeze was announced at nearly 350,000 people—more than 200,000 of them children. All of these deaths were entirely preventable.   USAID and additional cuts to the UN and its agencies mean the UN faces the gravest threat to its existence in its 80-year history. UNFPA, the UN's reproductive health agency, estimates 32 million people will lose access to its services. UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, warns that 12.8 million displaced people are at risk of losing life-saving health interventions. The International Organization for Migration projects 10 million migrants and internally displaced people will miss out on emergency assistance.   We are numbed by numbers. “One death is a tragedy, the death of millions is a statistic,” the saying goes. But these are our fellow humans—right now—suffering and dying. Children refused food. Refugees denied life-saving care after fleeing the horrors of war. Mothers bleeding to death during childbirth. All because the United States, once the backbone of the global humanitarian system, has suddenly turned off the tap.   America has abandoned the fight against poverty. But what does it mean to put America first while letting children elsewhere starve to death? The retreat may feel politically convenient, but the consequences will not stay confined to distant borders. When food systems collapse, migration spikes. When vaccines are cut off, disease spreads. When aid disappears, conflict grows. There is no version of global instability in which the U.S. remains unscathed.   No other country is stepping in to fill the void left by the United States. On the contrary, many are following suit, redirecting money once earmarked for life-saving development programmes—initiatives that ultimately build a safer, more stable world–towards defense spending.   These decisions are not just budgetary shifts; they represent a fundamental threat to multilateralism and the international rules-based order that has kept the world from the brink of world war for well over half a century.   The question now facing other world leaders is stark: will they continue to capitulate to Trump’s unilateralism, or will they stand up and defend multilateralism and international solidarity, including financial support, as our only safeguard against chaos, endless conflict, and unnecessary human suffering?   http://www.srpoverty.org/2025/07/18/common-dreams-opinion-six-months-into-his-presidency-trump-has-created-a-global-humanitarian-catastrophe/ http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/07/us-government-fuelling-global-humanitarian-catastrophe-un-experts http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(25)01186-9/fulltext http://www.unicefusa.org/press/statement-unicef-usa-president-and-ceo-michael-j-nyenhuis-vote-approving-proposed-rescissions   Aid cuts leaving millions without support, by Jan Egeland. (Norwegian Refugee Council)   “Cuts in aid from major donors are close to crippling the humanitarian response in some of the world’s most dire displacement crises. It is hard to articulate the depth of donors’ abandonment. Compared to this point last year, just two-thirds of the humanitarian funding has been received, which itself was dramatically lower than the previous year,” said Jan Egeland, Secretary General of NRC. “These cuts are costing lives and must be reversed.”   As of the end of June, 6 billion US Dollars have been provided globally for the humanitarian response, down from 9 billion US Dollars at the same point in 2024. In total, 44 billion US Dollars has been requested for 2025.   Last month the United Nations announced a ‘hyper-prioritised’ plan to try and ensure the most vulnerable were able to receive support. This plan aims to reach 114 million of the 300 million people in need, with 29 billion US Dollars. This prioritisation leaves almost 200 million people who need assistance beyond the focus of the humanitarian response.   “Given the funding levels so far in 2025, even many of those targeted by the ‘hyper-prioritised’ plan are likely to be left with their needs unmet. Alongside traditional humanitarian donors, we need to see other step up to bridge this gap, including a wider group of donor countries and the private sector. Development actors, including development banks, must also step up their investments in fragile and conflict-affected countries so that displaced people and host communities can access the support they need,” said Egeland.   The consequences of aid cuts can be clearly seen across the world. In Mozambique, where Japan is so far this year’s largest humanitarian donor country, aid agencies are being forced to scale down their support due to the abrupt ending of their United States (US) funding.“I witnessed first-hand the consequences in Mozambique, where I saw water tanks that can no longer be refilled due to the overnight cancellation of US funding. Families are left without a safe supply of drinking water. This is not only devastating lives but means that good investments already made with taxpayers’ money are getting lost. Our NRC teams too have been forced to scale down their support due to this halt in funding, and are now no longer able to provide safe housing for families made homeless by the recent cyclones. This is truly gut-wrenching,” said Egeland.   In Afghanistan, the US has drastically cut its aid work. Last year it supported 45 per cent of the humanitarian response in country.   “Our teams in Afghanistan remain on the ground and committed to the communities we have been working with for over two decades, but having lost our largest donor in the country our teams are being compelled to make heartbreaking choices on who and where we can help. We are not alone in this challenge. Many humanitarian organisations are being forced to reduce their support at a time when we are seeing more and more families returning to the country in need of urgent assistance,” said Egeland.   “This picture is being repeated time and time again around the world as international solidarity is being forced to cede to other priorities. Wealthy nations should step up funding before more lives are lost. If we can afford to host World Cups and global summits, and if NATO members can afford to increase defence spending to five per cent of GDP, we can afford to maintain support to the most vulnerable in their hour of greatest need.”   http://www.nrc.no/news/2025/july/aid-cuts-leaving-millions-without-support http://www.nrc.no/feature/2025/a-global-displacement-crisis-as-the-world-abandons-aid http://humanitarianaction.info/document/hyper-prioritized-global-humanitarian-overview-2025-cruel-math-aid-cuts http://humanitarianaction.info/   May 2025   The Trump administration’s abrupt suspension of U.S. foreign aid is placing millions of lives and human rights at risk across the globe.   In its research briefing Lives at Risk, Amnesty International examines how the cuts have halted critical programs across the globe, many of which provided essential health care, food security, shelter, medical services, and humanitarian support for people in extremely vulnerable situations.   The cuts have come in response to the executive order ‘Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid’ issued by President Donald Trump on January 20, 2025, as well as other executive orders that targeted specific programs for cuts.   In his testimony on May 21 and 22 in both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, Secretary of State Marco Rubio provided weak or incomplete answers about the grave human rights impact of the implementation of this order contrary to the evidence gathered by Amnesty and other organizations. He even erroneously asserted there have been no deaths associated with these cuts.   Given the scale of the cuts, the number and extent of robust modeling predicting substantial mortality, and the fact that deaths have been documented already, the assertion that there has not been any death stemming from these cuts defies logic.   “This abrupt decision and chaotic implementation by the Trump administration is reckless and profoundly damaging,” said Amanda Klasing, national director of government relations and advocacy with Amnesty International USA. “The decision to cut these programs so abruptly and in this untransparent manner violates international human rights law which the U.S. is bound by and undermines decades of U.S. leadership in global humanitarian and development efforts.   While U.S. funding over the decades has had a complex relationship with human rights, the scale and suddenness of these cuts have created a life-threatening vacuum that other governments and aid organizations are not able to fill in the immediate term, violating the rights to life and health, and dignity for millions.”   The rights to life and to health are under grave threat. The U.S. government has long been a key funder of global health, investing in HIV prevention, vaccine programs, maternal and child health, humanitarian relief and more. Since President Trump’s abrupt suspension of aid across multiple countries, many vital health services have been suspended or shut down.   In Haiti, health services have lost funding including for child survivors of sexual violence. In South Africa, home to the world’s largest HIV epidemic, funding for HIV prevention and community outreach for orphans and vulnerable children, including for young survivors of rape, was terminated, leaving people without care.   In Yemen, lifesaving assistance and protection services, including malnutrition treatment to children, pregnant and breastfeeding mothers, safe shelters to survivors of gender-based violence, and healthcare to children suffering from cholera and other illnesses have been shut down.   In South Sudan, projects providing a range of health services including rehabilitation services for victims of armed conflict and emergency nutritional support for children, have been stopped.   Funding cuts to groups that provide essential services for migrants, particularly those in dangerous or difficult situations, including refugees, people seeking asylum and internally displaced persons, have been widespread and devastating.   In Afghanistan, 12 out of 23 community resources centers, which provided approximately 120,000 returning and internally displaced Afghans with housing, food assistance, legal assistance and referrals to healthcare providers, have been shut down. Key aid organizations have suspended health and water programs, with disproportionate impacts on women and girls.   In Costa Rica, local organizations helping asylum seekers many from neighboring Nicaragua, are forced to scale back or close food and shelter programs. In Myanmar and Thailand, U.S.-funded health and humanitarian programs supporting displaced people and refugees have been suspended or drastically reduced. Clinics in Thai border camps closed abruptly after the stop-work orders, reportedly resulting in preventable deaths.   “These abrupt cuts in funding are undermining the humanitarian support and infrastructure that enables people around the world who have been forcibly displaced to access some measure of support and protection, placing already marginalized people in acute danger.   Amnesty International urges the Trump administration to restore foreign assistance, to programs where the chaotic and abrupt cut in funding has harmed human rights and ensure that future aid is administered consistent with human rights law and standards.   Amnesty calls on Congress to continue robust funding of foreign assistance and to ensure that all U.S. foreign assistance remains consistent with human rights and humanitarian principles and is allocated according to need.   All states in a position to do so should fulfill their obligations under UN General Assembly Resolution 2626 by committing at least 0.7% of gross national income to overseas aid. As part of aiming to meet this target, donor states should increase support where possible to help fill critical funding gaps left by the abrupt U.S. aid suspensions and ensure continued progress in realizing economic, social, and cultural rights and effective humanitarian response around the world.   “It is a false choice that the U.S. government has to choose between addressing the economic needs of Americans or the rising cost of living here in the U.S. and development and humanitarian assistance abroad,” said Klasing.   “Foreign assistance represents about one percent of the U.S. budget, and the U.S. has a global responsibility and interest in providing support to the most marginalized. As one of the world’s wealthiest nations with a history of providing foreign assistance, our analysis shows that this chaotic withdrawal from multilateral cooperation is in practice cruel and endangers the lives and rights of millions of people already facing crisis. The U.S. government can – and must – do better.”   http://www.amnestyusa.org/reports/lives-at-risk-chaotic-and-abrupt-cuts-to-foreign-aid-put-millions-of-lives-at-risk/ http://reliefweb.int/report/world/lives-risk-chaotic-and-abrupt-cuts-foreign-aid-put-millions-lives-risk http://www.interaction.org/statement/statement-on-the-latest-wave-of-foreign-assistance-terminations/ http://www.mercycorps.org/blog/human-cost-of-foreign-aid-cuts http://www.wfp.org/news/tens-millions-risk-extreme-hunger-and-starvation-unprecedented-funding-crisis-spirals http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/statement-unicef-executive-director-catherine-russell-globalforeign-aid-reductions http://www.acaps.org/en/us-funding-freeze http://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/biggest-ever-aid-cut-g7-members-death-sentence-millions-people-says-oxfam   May 2025   How US Aid Cuts are putting millions of Lives at Risk.   A catastrophe is unfolding in clinics, refugee camps, and conflict zones worldwide, says Farhat Mantoo; Executive Director of Medecins Sans Frontieres in South Asia.   In a remote health facility in Afghanistan, a young mother clutches her newborn, desperately waiting for the care she and her child so urgently need. But the clinic’s doors may soon close. Like hundreds of other health centers across Afghanistan, this facility is caught in the fallout of abrupt U.S. foreign aid cuts. For this mother, and millions like her in crisis-affected regions, the consequences are immediate and tragic — losing access to essential care at the very moment it is needed most.   In Afghanistan, several international NGOs have been forced to suspend critical health services, from maternal care to tuberculosis (TB) treatment, due to the abrupt termination of U.S.-funded programs. Therapeutic feeding centers in provinces like Badakhshan and Kabul have shut down, leaving malnourished children without care. Key services such as TB treatment, maternal health, mental health, mobile clinics, and vaccination programs have been suspended in multiple provinces, leading to reduced patient care, increased referrals to private (often unaffordable) facilities, and gaps in disease surveillance.   This is not an isolated story. Over the past 100 days, we have witnessed a growing, human-made disaster. The abrupt termination of U.S. foreign aid is dismantling critical health and humanitarian services across the globe, as the United States alone accounted for nearly 40 percent of global humanitarian funding.   While the scale of the U.S. cuts is shocking, it is a part of a wider shift. In the last few months, the United Kingdom, France, Switzerland, Belgium, and the Netherlands have all made significant cuts to their aid budgets.   Programs addressing diseases like HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria, which have saved millions of lives, are now at risk of collapse. The resulting gaps will be felt most severely by those who already face the greatest challenges to their survival.   At Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)/Doctors Without Borders, we do not accept U.S. government funding, and we continue to run medical humanitarian programs in more than 70 countries. However, we cannot do this alone. We work closely with other health and humanitarian organizations to deliver vital services, and many of our activities involve programs that have been disrupted and, in some contexts, dissipated due to funding cuts.   In our operations across regions where these funding cuts are most profound, we are already witnessing the devastating effects.   The United States has historically been a key contributor to humanitarian efforts in Afghanistan, accounting for 43.9 percent of all reported aid in the country, according to the United Nations. Following the recent aid suspension announced by the Trump administration, over 200 World Health Organization-supported health facilities — previously serving 1.84 million people — have either closed or halted operations. These closures have cut off access to vital services such as vaccinations, maternal care, and child health programs.   The impact is especially severe in northern, western, and northeastern Afghanistan, where more than one-third of clinics have shut down, and an additional 220 facilities are projected to close by June due to ongoing funding gaps. The crisis extends beyond the WHO. Save the Children has shuttered 18 of its 32 clinics, and the Norwegian Refugee Council has closed two community resource centers supporting displaced populations, with two more on the brink of shutting down. Action Against Hunger was forced to halt all U.S.-funded operations in March when the funding was abruptly cut.   In Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar, home to one of the world’s largest refugee camps with 1 million Rohingya refugees, the United States has typically contributed nearly half of the total humanitarian aid allocated to support the refugees, amounting to approximately $300 million in 2024. Around 48 health facilities, including 11 primary care centers, have been affected by aid cuts, resulting in many refugees being left without access to essential healthcare services, according to the International Rescue Committee. As per the Inter-Sector Coordination Group, which oversees NGO activities in Cox’s Bazar, disruptions in healthcare services have impacted roughly 300,000 refugees.   MSF teams in more than 20 countries have reported concerns with disrupted or suspended sexual and reproductive health (SRH) programs, which MSF relies on for referrals for medical emergencies, supplies, and technical partnerships. These include contexts with already high levels of maternal and infant mortality. In Cox’s Bazar, MSF teams report that other implementers are not able to provide SRH supplies, like emergency birth kits and contraceptives. Referrals for medical emergencies, like post-abortion care, have also been disrupted, increasing urgent needs for SRH care in the region.   In Pakistan, the pause on U.S. foreign assistance would affect 1.7 million people, including 1.2 million Afghan refugees, who would be cut off from lifesaving sexual and reproductive health services with the closure of over 60 facilities, according to the U.N.   Cuts to President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and USAID have led to suspensions and closures of HIV programs in countries, including South Africa, Uganda, and Zimbabwe — threatening the lives of people receiving antiretroviral (ARV) therapy. South Africa’s pioneering Treatment Action Campaign — which helped transform the country’s response to HIV/AIDS — has had to drastically reduce its community-led monitoring system that helps ensure that people stay on treatment. The monitoring is now only happening on a small scale at clinics.   The reported decision of the U.S. government to end its support for Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, which was set up 25 years ago to increase access to vaccines for the world’s poorest countries, will have devastating consequences for children across the globe. As per Gavi’s own estimates, the loss of U.S. support to Gavi is projected to deny approximately 75 million children routine vaccinations in the next five years, with more than 1.2 million children potentially dying as a result.   The United Nations has warned that these funding cuts are disrupting global childhood immunization efforts almost as severely as the COVID-19 pandemic did. Millions of children are now missing routine vaccinations, heightening the risk of outbreaks of preventable diseases such as measles, polio, and diphtheria.   For more than 50 years, we have been vaccinating children who live in some of the world’s hardest-to-reach areas, including war zones, refugee camps, and rural areas cut off from health care. This decision will risk leaving these children unprotected. While we do not accept Gavi funding and will not be directly affected by cuts to the program, more than half of the vaccines we use in our projects come from ministries of health and are procured through Gavi.   We are standing at a perilous crossroads where political agendas and funding decisions are dismantling lifelines for millions. The erosion of humanitarian aid is not a future threat — it is a present catastrophe unfolding in clinics, refugee camps, and conflict zones worldwide. We cannot allow narrow national interests and harmful narratives to dictate who lives and who is left to suffer.   The international community — governments, donors, and citizens alike — must reaffirm an unwavering commitment to humanity. This means urgently restoring and protecting funding for essential health and humanitarian services, shielding vulnerable communities from the fallout of political decisions, and upholding the principles of impartiality, dignity, and care. Silence and inaction will cost lives. Now is the time to stand in solidarity, to demand that humanitarian aid remains a beacon of hope, not a tool of politics. The world must not turn its back on those who need us most.   http://www.msf.org/after-first-100-days-us-aid-budget-cuts http://msf.org.au/event/navigating-global-pressures-humanitarian-aid-impacts-msf-and-our-response/recording http://www.ungeneva.org/en/news-media/news/2025/04/105810/millions-will-die-funding-cuts-says-un-aid-chief http://humanitarianaction.info/document/us-funding-freeze-global-survey http://reliefweb.int/report/world/children-facing-extreme-hunger-crisis-put-risk-aid-cuts-clinics-close http://views-voices.oxfam.org.uk/2025/05/two-drops-of-life-for-me-aid-gamechanger/ http://www.one.org/us/stories/cost-of-cuts/ http://www.wvi.org/publication/world-refugee-day/report-ration-cuts-2025 http://www.justsecurity.org/114839/us-foreign-aid-cuts-world-must-respond/   * The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute reports global military spending of over $2700 billion in 2024, U.S.$997 billion. The Forbes 2024 Billionaires list reports 2,781 people holding combined assets of $14.2 trillion.
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