The flag alley at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, 13 March 2024. (Keystone/Salvatore Di Nolfi)

The Capitol rioter surveying international Geneva. Confidential documents reveal the political ideologies of those behind the controversial survey distributed to organisations in Geneva. Meanwhile, unease grows in Geneva as the UN Refugee Agency considers laying off up to 6,000 employees.

😵‍💫THE TURMOIL CONTINUES. Reporting and discussions will expectedly continue to revolve around the impact of US funding as the dust continues to settle.

The UN Children’s Fund's deputy executive director, Kitty van der Heijden, outlined some examples of the effects in Africa. Some 1.3 million children, she explained, could lose life-saving support in Afar, Ethiopia, where more than half of Unicef mobile clinics were brought to a halt. Life-saving treatments could run out by May for some 70,000 children. In Nigeria, similarly, supplies needed to support some 80,000 children will be depleted as early as next month.

Nothing to add. As to job cuts, van der Heijden also didn't provide any details arguing that "reality changes almost by the day". "We've had suspensions, then we had waivers, we had partial waivers, we had terminations, terminations being rescinded," she said.

Here's hoping. She said, however, that Unicef was still trying to convince the US that it is "serving the United States' interest to keep the world a safe place, particularly for children".

The UN Refugee Agency has said it is planning a “significant reduction in the size of the workforce”, which, according to Devex, could cut as much as 6,000 to 5,000 jobs worldwide – between a quarter and a third of its staff.

A spokesperson confirmed to Geneva reporters on Friday that globally, 400 jobs were being cut so far – 200 less than they had initially announced – but that he couldn’t speak to further projections as the situation was still being assessed.

On Monday, the UN refugee agency will launch a funding appeal for Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar, where the fate of one million people remains in limbo following the US funding freeze.

Further afield. The future of US foreign aid is also beginning to take shape. Several plans, like having the state department dissolve and absorb USAid into its humanitarian bureau or replacing it altogether with a new and thinner US humanitarian agency, have been circulating this week in Washington.

What is clear is that there will be significant shifts that organisations will have to contend with.

– By Michelle Langrand