UNHCR shed 5,000 jobs this year

GENEVA:

The United Nations refugee agency has shed nearly 5,000 jobs this year following swingeing cuts in international aid, its chief said Monday, decrying the "disastrous" political choices behind the crisis.

The UNHCR is grappling with surging global displacement, while under President Donald Trump the United States -- traditionally the world's top donor -- has heavily slashed foreign aid, causing havoc across the globe.

The agency's chief Filippo Grandi said the cuts constituted more than a quarter of the agency's workforce, with more to come -- and no country or sector left unscathed.

"Critical programmes and lifesaving activities have to be stopped, gender-based violence prevention work, psychosocial support to survivors of torture, stopped," Grandi said.

"Schools were closed, food assistance decreased, cash grants cut, resettlement ground to a halt. This is what happens when you slash funding by over $1 billion in a matter of weeks."