The United Nations, facing a funding crisis, is considering abolishing 20% of its positions as part of ongoing reform plans, according to an internal memo obtained by Agence France-Presse on Thursday.
The UN’s chief financial officer, Chandramouli Ramanathan, sent a letter this week to dozens of department heads stating that “the Secretary-General has set an ambitious goal to achieve a significant reduction (between 15% and 20%) in the regular budget for 2026, including a 20% cut in the positions within the UN Secretariat.”
The UN’s budget for this year stands at $3.7 billion.
The Secretariat, one of the main bodies responsible for implementing decisions of the Security Council and General Assembly, employs around 35,000 people, most of whom are based in New York, but also in Geneva, Vienna, and Nairobi.
The “UN80” reform initiative launched by Secretary-General António Guterres in March aims to streamline operations amid financial constraints.
Guterres recently warned of “painful” changes ahead, including potential staff reductions, indirectly raising the prospect of a 20% workforce reduction.
The memo, dated May 27 and seen by Agence France-Presse, instructs all department heads to prepare lists of positions to be eliminated by June 13, focusing on “unnecessary, overlapping, or non-essential positions.”
If the General Assembly approves the staff cuts as part of the 2026 budget, the decision will take effect on January 1, 2026, for existing vacancies, and later for occupied positions, according to UN regulations.
The memo specifies that agencies such as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, which are partially funded by the regular UN budget, will receive separate instructions.
The UN has been grappling with a chronic liquidity crisis for years due to some countries failing to pay their contributions in full, while others do not pay on time.
A UN spokesperson stated that the United States, the largest contributor to the UN’s regular budget at 22% of the total, was late in paying $1.5 billion by the end of January.
In 2024, China, the second-largest contributor at 20%, only made its contribution in late December.
