U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday, 4th February, signed an executive order withdrawing his country from a number of United Nations bodies, including its Human Rights Council (UNHRC), and setting up a broader review of US funding for the multilateral organisation.
The executive order said it withdrew Washington from the UNHRC and the main UN relief agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) and would review involvement in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).
The move coincides with a visit to Washington by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has long been critical of UNRWA, accusing it of anti-Israel incitement and its staff of being “involved in terrorist activities against Israel.”
During Trump’s first term in office, from 2017-2021, he also cut off funding for UNRWA, questioning its value, saying that Palestinians needed to agree to renew peace talks with Israel, and calling for unspecified reforms.
The first Trump administration also quit the 47-member Human Rights Council halfway through a three-year term over what it called chronic bias against Israel and a lack of reform. The U.S. is not currently a member of the Geneva-based body.
Since taking office for a second term on 20th January, Trump has ordered that the U.S. withdraw from the World Health Organisation and from the Paris Climate Agreement – also steps he took during his first term in office.
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The U.S. was UNRWA’s biggest donor – providing $300 million–$400 million a year – but Biden paused funding in January 2024 after Israel accused about a dozen UNRWA staff of taking part in the deadly 7th October 2023 attack on Israel by Palestinian militants Hamas that triggered the war in Gaza.
The U.S. Congress then formally suspended contributions to UNRWA until at least March 2025. UNRWA provides aid, health, and education services to millions of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan.
