United Nations seeks 20% cut in staff to help deal with funding shortfall
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United Nations (AP): More than 60 United Nations offices, agencies and operations have been ordered to submit proposals by mid-June to cut 20% of their staff, as part of a major reform effort to consolidate operations in the face of a critical funding crunch.
The cuts affect about 14,000 posts covered by the regular budget, or about 2,800 posts, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters.
These include staff in the UN's political and humanitarian offices, and its agencies helping refugees, promoting gender equality and dealing with international trade, the environment and cities. The UN agency supporting Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, is also on the list.
UN Controller Chandramouli Ramanathan said in a memo to the affected agencies that the staff cuts are part of Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' goal of achieving a reduction of between 15% and 20% in the UN's current budget of $3.72 billion.
The cuts are part of the UN80 reform initiative launched by Guterres in March as the world body approaches its 80th anniversary later this year.
The UN chief has dismissed any relationship with the cuts to foreign aid and other programs by US President Donald Trump. Instead, he has pointed to shrinking UN resources over at least the past seven years as not all member states pay their yearly dues and many don't pay on time.
The US, with the world's biggest economy, is expected to pay 22% of the regular budget, while China, with the second-largest economy, recently had its share raised to 20%. Last year, 152 of the UN's 193 member nations paid their dues in full, including China, but 41 countries did not, including the United States.
In an executive order dated Feb. 4, Trump ordered a review within 180 days of US participation in and funding for all international organizations, including the United Nations.
The controller's memo, obtained Thursday night by The Associated Press, gives advice to the heads of agencies on which posts to cut: “Assess functions based on efficiency; Prioritize based on impact; Target redundant, overlapping or non-critical functions or roles for consolidation or abolition.”
Guterres and his predecessors in past decades have struggled to reform the United Nations, which was established following World War II, and bring it into a modern era with different powers, new technology and greater global divisions.
One key problem is that while the secretary-general is the UN's chief executive, power rests with the 193 member nations, which have very different ideas about the UN and the world.
The proposed cuts must be submitted to the controller by June 13. Dujarric said they will be incorporated into Guterres' proposed 2026 budget, to be adopted by the General Assembly in December.
The UN's 11 peacekeeping missions are financed by a separate budget, and many of its far-flung agencies and operations are funded entirely by voluntary contributions, including the Rome-based World Food Program, known as WFP.
Several UN agencies were already planning to slash jobs or cut costs in other ways, with officials pointing to funding reductions mainly from the United States and warning that vital relief programs will be severely affected as a result.
WFP is expected to cut up to 30% of its staff, and the head of the UN refugee agency UNHCR said it would downsize its headquarters and regional offices to reduce costs by 30% and cut senior-level positions by 50%, according to internal memos obtained by the AP.
Other agencies, including UNICEF, the UN children's agency, and OCHA, the UN humanitarian agency, have also announced or plan to make cuts.
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SC slams police-power nexus, asks court to conclude murder trial against YSRCP MLC by Nov 30
New Delhi (PTI): Observing that the Andhra Pradesh Police is in “complete collusion” with those in power, the Supreme Court on Friday ordered that the trial against YSRCP MLC Anantha Satya Udaya Bhaskara Rao in a 2022 case of murder should conclude by November 30.
Rao, an MLC of the then ruling YSRCP, is accused of killing his former driver Veedhi Subramanyam, a Dalit, over a money dispute in May 2022 in Kakinada in Andhra Pradesg. He was arrested on charges of murder and atrocity under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities Act).
Passing a slew of directions with an aim to ensure that the probe and trial ends early, a Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant said in its strong comments, “This is a case of complete collusion and hobnobbing. It is a clear case of the nexus between power and police.”
The bench also comprised Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi.
On September 26, 2022, the Andhra Pradesh High Court dismissed Rao's petition seeking default bail in the high profile murder case. The high court said a chargesheet cannot be termed "incomplete" or "defective" simply because it was returned by a court for technical corrections or missing scientific reports.
On December 12, 2022, the apex court granted Rao interim bail, saying the accused cannot be kept in custody.
On Friday, the CJI-led bench perused the case records and said it was apparent that the state police was “hobnobbing” with the accused and yet he did not get bail from the high court.
The bench asked the chief justice of the Andhra Pradesh high court to entrust the trial in the case to a senior judicial officer who can take up the matter at least once in a week.
While asking the state police to conclude the investigation in the case by March 31, it asked the trial court to complete the issues relating to framing of charges against the lawmaker by April 18, 2026.
The bench granted prosecution time till August 31 to conclude examination of its witnesses in the case.
While granting two months to the accused to lead defence evidence for two months, the bench asked the trial court to conclude the trial by November 30.
It restrained all the courts, including the high court, from passing any order which may lead to halting of trial.
The apex court asked the high court judge in charge of the district where the l will go on to ensure that its procedural directions are followed.
