Trump’s dangerous disregard for international justice
Since returning to the White House, US president Donald Trump has set his sights on slashing foreign aid. His administration has dismantled the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), cutting the number of programmes from more than 6,000 to fewer than 900.
In late August, Trump renewed his assault on foreign assistance, announcing the cancellation of US$4.9 billion in congressionally approved aid through a seldom-used mechanism that the Government Accountability Office deemed illegal in 2018.
The abrupt cuts to humanitarian assistance have been devastating, leaving millions of people in the developing world at risk of dying from starvation or preventable illness. Less visible, but no less significant, is the withdrawal of support for peacebuilding and rule-of-law and human-rights promotion, including accountability for atrocities.
Only a handful of USAID programmes that focus on these issues remain, while Trump’s latest effort to claw back funds includes…
