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The United Nations assistance agencies have been sent by the United States asking them to declare if they have “anti -American” beliefs or affiliations.
Among the 36 questions about the form, sent by the United States Administration and Budget Office (OMB) and seen by the BBC, there is one that asks if they have any link to communism.
Some of the world’s largest humanitarian organizations have received the questionnaire, including the refugee UN agency and the Red Cross International Committee.
The Trump administration has launched a cost reduction campaign throughout the United States government, led by billionaire Elon Musk, and has closed much of its foreign aid.
UN groups fear that the OMB movement is a sign that the United States is planning to abandon humanitarian work, or even the UN itself, completely.
The United States retired from the World Health Organization on the first day of President Donald Trump’s second term.
And this week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the vast majority of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) had been completed.
Surveys indicate that Most Americans believe that the country spends too much On foreign help.
The United States spends a lower % of its GDP to help than European countries, but, due to its enormous economy, it still provides 40 % of global humanitarian financing
Many of the UN help agencies that were sent to the form received funds, not only from USAID, but directly from the United States government.
A question asks: “Can you confirm that your organization does not work with entities associated with communist, socialist or totalitarian parties, or any part that defends anti -American beliefs?”
Another asks the agencies that confirm that they do not receive funds from China, Russia, Cuba or Iran: these countries may not be Washington’s best friends, but, like all the 193 UN Member States, they finance the large humanitarian agencies.
Other questions ask help agencies to ensure that no project includes Dei elements (diversity, equity and inclusion) or anything related to climate change.
This could be uncomfortable for agencies such as UNICEF, which supports equal access to education for girls, or the World Food Program, which tries to prevent famine by supporting the communities affected by drought so that the transition to more climatic resilient crops.
Professor Karl Blanchet, from the Center for Humanitarian Studies of the University of Geneva, believes that help agencies are being established to fail: “The decision has already been made. It is very likely that the United States stops its participation in any UN system.
“It is multilateralism versus America first: these are two extremes of a spectrum.”
Help agencies working in complex humanitarian operations are more forceful.
“It’s as if asked ‘have you stopped hitting your son, yes or no?'” He said a frustrated help worker.
UN human rights have already chosen not to complete the form.
“Since they were mostly questions of themselves/not with a very limited space for the elaboration, and that some of the questions were not applicable to the UN, we were not able to answer directly to the online questionnaires,” a spokesman told the BBC.
“On the other hand, we provide email answers with explanations of those questions where we could provide an answer.”
Some of the questions also reflect the economic interests of the administration of President Trump.
There is a consultation on projects that can affect “efforts to strengthen the supply chains of the United States or ensure rare earth minerals.”
The BBC has approached the OMB and the US missions in the United Nations in New York and Geneva to comment.
