The international aid organization NRC (Norwegian Refugee Council or Norwegian Refugee Aid) is one of them. NRC is discontinuing its work in 20 countries when funding from the USA is now being stopped.
This is the first time in the organization's 79-year history that it is being forced to discontinue projects, according to a press release, which emphasizes that hundreds of thousands will be affected. Among them are 57,000 people who are located in areas near the front line in war-torn Ukraine, according to NRC.
Is the USA putting itself first?
It has been a week since Trump's adviser and super entrepreneur Elon Musk announced that the president has agreed to shut down USAID. The announcement came after Musk, who leads the so-called efficiency unit Doge, tweeted that it's "time for USAID to die". Last Monday, the staff, around 10,000 employees, were ordered to stay home, the website was shut down, and the headquarters were barricaded.
Later, it was announced that Foreign Minister Marco Rubio would take over the agency and review whether existing aid projects "put the USA first".
According to Congress, USAID had a budget of 42.8 billion dollars, equivalent to almost half a billion kronor, for both humanitarian aid and long-term development efforts. The vast majority of these have now been put on hold.
Important to protect others
NRC notes that the new US administration certainly has a mandate to conduct a legitimate review of aid, but emphasizes that "further measures must be taken urgently to avoid ongoing humanitarian aid being discontinued while the review is ongoing".
A fifth of NRC's revenue, a billion kronor amount, consisted of American aid last year.
The Catholic aid organization Caritas is also outraged by the decision, which it calls "reckless" and "inhuman". Cardinal Michael Czerny, who is responsible for environmental and development issues, reminds the Trump administration in an AP interview of the Christian principle of protecting others.
The UN program Unaids, which works globally with efforts against HIV/AIDS, is warning that the number of HIV infections could increase sixfold by 2029 if the USA cuts off its aid.
Lives will be lost if the American government does not change its mind and maintains its leadership, says Unaids chief Winnie Byanyima to AP.
