Aid agency NRC halts work for first time in its history over US aid freeze

The Norwegian Refugee Council has been forced to suspend urgent humanitarian work with thousands of people for the first time in its history due to the US aid freeze under President Donald Trump.

In a statement on Monday, the NRC - one of the world's biggest aid agencies - said its humanitarian work in 20 countries affected by wars, disasters, and displacement was being halted following the stopping, partial suspension, or lack of reimbursement of US funding for its global operations.

In 2024, NRC assisted 1.6 million people through US-supported programmes.

Together with Norway, the EU, Sweden and Germany, the US is among NRC’s largest contributors: just under 20 per cent ($150 million) of NRC’s funding in 2024 came from the US.

Since returning to the White House last month, Trump has ordered the suspension of foreign assistance and called for the closure of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which distributes US humanitarian aid globally.

"We have - in our 79-year history - never experienced such an abrupt discontinuation of aid funding from any of our many donor nations, inter-governmental organisations, or private donor agencies," the NRC said.

"The consequences will be increasingly serious for people facing crises around the world. In Ukraine, NRC has had to halt the scheduled February distribution of emergency support to 57,000 people in communities along the frontlines. This comes just as winter takes full hold, leaving people unable to heat their homes and access vital goods such as food."

NRC said it had been forced to lay off aid workers around the world, including female and male staff in Afghanistan who sustain a faltering lifeline to girls, women, and families still grappling with the fallout of the change in control and chaotic departure of the US and other NATO countries in 2021.

The organisation welcomed the temporary waiver announced by the US Secretary of State, intended to allow for ongoing life-saving humanitarian assistance programmes to continue.

But like many other organisations, NRC is unable to take advantage of this waiver unless the US government resumes payments to its partners for work completed before the foreign assistance pause and for these allowable lifesaving activities, it noted.

"We currently have millions of dollars in outstanding payment requests to the US government. Without an immediate solution, we may, at the end of February, be forced to halt US-funded lifesaving humanitarian programmes.

"The impact of this will be felt severely by the most vulnerable, from deeply neglected Burkina Faso, where we are the only organisation supplying clean water to the 300,000 trapped in the blockaded city of Djibo, to war-torn Sudan, where we support nearly 500 bakeries in Darfur providing daily subsidised bread to hundreds of thousands of hunger-stricken people."

Even if the immediate liquidity issue is resolved, hundreds of thousands of people will still be left without vital assistance previously supported by US humanitarian funding, but not covered by the current limited waiver, NRC warned.

This includes emergency education, livelihoods programmes, and protection activities that have given youth in Central and South America, and across the Sahel, hope for a future in their home communities.

To prevent disruptions to these and other programmes, stop-work orders should be fully lifted during the course of the foreign assistance review, it suggested.