The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Tuesday it will make 1,800 layoffs and close 26 of its 350 delegations around the world.
The staff reduction is 300 more than the organization had announced at the beginning of April.
The aim is to reduce the budget for 2023 from an initial CHF 2.8 billion to CHF 2.4 billion.
Inflation – which incurs an additional cost of 60 million francs, which the organization had decided to support without aid – and the difficulties of meeting its cash needs, in a context of continuous increase in the need for humanitarian aid, led the organization to start 2023 with a deficit of CHF 140 million.
Among those that will close are those of Mauritania, Kuala Lumpur and Greece, while those of Dakar, Nairobi, Amman, Bangkok, Panama and others will be downsized.
ICRC officials said this decision was very difficult as the initial budget – which had increased by 0.3% over the previous year – only allowed for a similar level of humanitarian aid to last year when needs have increased as a result of new crises, such as the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation, which has led the ICRC to expand its activities in that country.
In addition to the Delegations that will be closed, others will reduce their size and activity, especially in cases where an area can be covered by another Delegation or where other humanitarian organizations can fill the gap.
Source: DN
