The World Refugee and Migration Council, based in Ottawa, has warned that the postwar humanitarian aid framework is confronting a profound challenge after steep cuts from major donors, especially the United States. The organisation launched an 18‑month initiative on Thursday to seek practical reforms that would enable the international community to stretch dwindling resources further while still meeting the needs of refugees and displaced people.
Donor Retreat and the Numbers Behind the Crisis
According to the council’s report, U.S. funding for humanitarian aid has fallen by 57 % and is increasingly tied to countries that align with American geopolitical priorities. The Trump administration dismantled the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and shifted most foreign‑assistance responsibilities to the State Department. Official development assistance from the United States in 2025 totalled US$29 billion, down from roughly US$65 billion the previous year, as recorded by the Organisation for Economic Co‑operation and Development (OECD). Other traditional donors – Britain, Germany, Japan and France – also recorded sharp declines in 2025, and the OECD projects further falls this year.
Canada’s contribution has been trimmed as well. The 2025 federal budget cut $2.7 billion from the country’s foreign‑aid spending over four years, a move the government said would focus support on nations deemed most in need. Aid groups warned that the reduction would exacerbate a global crisis that has left millions struggling to survive in war zones and disaster zones, including refugees fleeing the civil war in Sudan.
Re‑thinking Assistance for Protracted Displacement
The report argues that the humanitarian system, originally designed for short‑term emergencies, has become stuck in long‑term crises. “By default it has remained engaged in protracted crises beyond the short‑term emergency role for which it was originally designed,” the document states. With resources shrinking, agencies must curb duplication and overlapping mandates, the council insists, because “scarce resources must go further. Overlapping mandates, parallel delivery structures and competition for funding impose costs the system can no longer afford.” Success, it adds, should be measured by outcomes for affected populations rather than by the volume of aid delivered or the number of people reached.
Ninette Kelley, the council’s chair, emphasised that life‑ saving assistance remains vital but warned that emergency help alone cannot map a future for those displaced for years or even decades. “Without a longer‑term strategy, protracted displacement responses will continue to be dominated by short‑term interventions, allowing situations to deteriorate and ultimately increasing the human and financial costs,” she wrote in an e‑mail. Fen Osler Hampson, the council’s president and a professor of international affairs at Carleton University, noted that global conflicts have reached their highest level since 1946, with nearly 118 million people forcibly displaced. He added that modelling suggests U.S. aid cuts alone could lead to more than 14 million additional deaths by 2030, rising to as many as 22 million when other donors’ reductions are factored in. Almost 70 % of the world’s refugees have been displaced for five years or longer, underscoring the need for a system tuned to local conditions rather than merely trimmed to do the same with less.
Middle Powers as New Leaders
The council’s report calls on middle‑income countries to build on the Partners for Multilateralism initiative that Prime Minister Mark Carney endorsed on Canada’s behalf at this year’s United Nations General Assembly in New York. By forming coalitions, these nations can ensure that every dollar of humanitarian aid stretches further as U.S. support wanes. “Middle‑power engagement is particularly relevant in the absence of clear international leadership during this period of rapid change,” the report reads. “With traditional leadership receding, middle powers must step up. They cannot replace lost U.S. dollars, but they can build the coalitions that make every dollar go further.”
Why it Matters
The humanitarian aid system that has sustained millions of vulnerable people for decades is at a crossroads; without urgent reform, the combined effect of donor withdrawals and protracted crises threatens to push millions deeper into poverty and jeopardise lives on a scale not seen since the mid‑20th century. The Ottawa‑led push for smarter, leaner, and locally rooted assistance offers a pragmatic pathway to preserve life‑saving support while adapting to a new financial reality, making it a critical development for policymakers, aid agencies, and the displaced populations they serve.