UN rights chief appeals for $400m as crises mount and funding shrinks

UN human rights chief Volker Turk appealed for $400 million on Thursday (5 February) to address mounting human rights needs in countries such as Sudan and Myanmar, after donor funding cuts drastically reduced the work of his office and left it in "survival mode".

The UN office is appealing for $100 million less than last year, after a significant scale back of its work in some areas due to a fall in contributions from countries including the US and Europe.

"We are currently in survival mode, delivering under strain," Turk told delegates in a speech in Geneva, urging countries to step up support.

In the last year, Turk's office raised alarm about human rights violations in Gaza, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ukraine, and Myanmar, among others.

However, due to slashes in funding, Turk's office undertook less than half the number of human rights monitoring missions compared to 2024, and reduced its presence in 17 countries, he said.

Last year it received $90 million less in funding than it needed, which resulted in 300 job cuts, directly impacting the office's work, Turk said in December.

"We cannot afford a human rights system in crisis," he stated.

Turk listed examples of the impacts of cuts, noting the Myanmar programme was cut by more than 60% in the last year, limiting its ability to gather evidence.

A UN probe into possible war crimes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is also struggling to become fully operational due to limited funding, while work to prevent gender-based violence and protect the rights of LGBTIQ+ people globally has been cut up to 75%, the office said.

"This means more hate speech and attacks, and fewer laws to stop them," Turk stated.

The UN human rights office is responsible for investigating rights violations. Its work contributes to UN Security Council deliberations and is widely used by international courts, according to the office.