Good morning, this is Kasmira. In February, the Trump administration introduced a new policy that dramatically expanded the so-called global gag rule and putting heavy restrictions on US foreign assistance funding.
The move will have far-reaching repercussions and already has Geneva's ecosystem scrambling to comply, writes international Gender Champions’ Hannah Reinl in today’s opinion piece. |
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Demonstrators protest against cuts to American foreign aid spending, including USAID and the PEPFAR program to combat HIV/AIDS, on Capitol Hill, Washington DC, Wednesday, 26 February, 2025, in Washington. (Keystone/AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
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On 26 February 2026, a new United States foreign assistance policy entered into force, placing significant pressure on the multilateral system. Known as Promoting Human Flourishing in Foreign Assistance (PHFFA), it combines three separate policy strands targeting abortion access, diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programming and what the Trump administration terms “gender ideology”.
At first glance, PHFFA appears to extend the Mexico City Policy – more commonly known as the Global Gag Rule – under which Republican administrations have historically restricted funding to NGOs that provide or refer for abortion services. But PHFFA reaches considerably further. Although the full implications are still unfolding, enough is known to raise serious concerns about the future of gender equality within the multilateral system – and the system itself.
Read the full opinion piece by Hannah Reinl, project manager at International Gender Champions on Geneva Solutions.
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Here’s what else is happening
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Die Deutsche Welle (EN)
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Chatham House (EN)
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The Economist🔐 (EN)
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A study by the UN Development Programme and Stanford University, conducted using satellite information and AI, finds that 58 per cent of the global population has been assigned to the wrong tier in the UN's Human Development Index.
Die Deutsche Welle (EN)
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The World Food Programme says 650,000 fewer people are not receiving the aid, while 7.2 million in the country are acutely food insecure. The reductions in aid are due to funding cuts by the US and other donors.
Reuters (EN)
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