UN human rights chief warns agency is in ‘survival mode’ after massive donor cuts

The UN’s top human rights official says his office is being hollowed out at the very moment global abuses are surging, with major donors slashing contributions and forcing the organisation into what he bluntly calls “survival mode”.

Volker Turk, the UN high commissioner for human rights, said on Wednesday his office is operating with a $90m deficit this year, a gap that has already cost 300 staff jobs and sharply weakened the UN’s ability to monitor violations and hold governments to account.

To cope, Turk said country visits by UN experts have been cut back, fact-finding missions scaled down, and treaty-compliance reviews postponed, dropping from 145 last year to 103.

“Our resources have been slashed, along with funding for human rights organisations, including at the grassroots level, around the world,” he told reporters. “We are in survival mode.”

Much of the retreat comes from governments that once championed human rights funding. Britain, the Netherlands and Sweden have diverted money to defence and domestic budgets. The United States, under President Donald Trump, has sharply reduced its contributions, questioned the UN’s relevance, and backed a congressional rescission that stripped funding from international bodies.

The warning from Turk lands as the UN’s humanitarian arm, OCHA, issues a $23bn appeal for 2026, also amid severe cuts. Officials admit that falling donor support means millions of people in crisis settings will simply go without aid.

The largest request is for the occupied Palestinian territory: $4bn aimed mostly at Gaza, where Israel’s genocidal war has left nearly all 2.3 million residents displaced and dependent on assistance, and even that figure, UN officials say, barely scratches the surface of need.

Other major asks include $2bn for people displaced inside Sudan, $1bn for Sudanese refugees, $1.4bn for communities hit by violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, more than $2bn for emergency aid inside Syria, and nearly $3bn for Syrian refugees.