President Donald Trump’s administration is dismantling the US foreign aid agency, USAID, and has ordered a 90-day freeze on foreign development assistance funding. These actions are part of President Trump and his adviser Elon Musk’s efforts to curtail America’s overseas spending and are set to have ramifications for human rights and the rule of law globally.

‘The impact could be profound in some places. USAID funds numerous programmes aimed at strengthening democratic institutions, promoting human rights, and supporting civil society organisations’, says Juan Manuel Marchán, Co-Chair of the IBA Poverty and Social Development Committee. A loss of funding could weaken these efforts, he says.
 
Through USAID – which was founded in 1961 – the US has supported over 100 countries in improving areas such as health, education and access to clean water. During times of disaster or crisis, such as the war in Ukraine or the 2010 Haitian earthquake, the US has also channelled its aid and relief programmes through the agency. USAID runs its own programmes but also funds non-governmental organisations (NGOs) globally.

Historically, some of that support has focused on democracy, human rights and governance as well as gender equality. For example, in Thailand, the USAID-funded Andaman Friendship Association is the only organisation on the island of Phuket offering Burmese migrants legal support while in Romania, Comunitatea Mea focuses on improving democracy and governance. Without the backing of USAID, many organisations such as these will be forced to halt their important work or fold entirely if they can’t find alternative sources of funding.

Already hospitals on the Thai border treating those injured by the civil war in Myanmar have had to close, while at least 37 clinics have also shut in Malawi, says Anu Kumar, President and Chief Executive Officer of reproductive justice NGO Ipas. This leaves people without vital access to healthcare – a human right in itself. 

The disruptions to aid mean there will be reduced support for human rights defenders and civil society generally, says Ravi Madasamy, LGBTQI+ Liaison Officer on the IBA Human Rights Law Committee. ‘This will weaken the capacity of local organisations to monitor the reporting of human rights abuses and leave activists and marginalised groups more exposed to repression’, he says.

Bangladesh’s government, for example, is currently undergoing a restructure, with key functions such as the anti-corruption commission and electoral and constitutional processes being reformed. USAID was meant to support the country in doing this, says AKM Jashim Uddin, Director of the Association of Development Agencies in Bangladesh, but now ‘these activities definitely will be hampered’. He remains hopeful however that the US State Department sees the value in continuing the work of building a democracy.

The dismantling of USAID will also have an impact on gender equality and women’s rights, says Madasamy, who’s the Founder and Director of M Ravi Law. A significant portion of USAID’s work focused on empowering women and girls in places such as Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Ukraine.

‘Right now, we are seeing healthcare clinics closing due to staff shortages [and] the lack of commodities and supplies’, says Kumar. She adds that there has been a disruption to contraception use as well as to supplies used to treat postpartum haemorrhages, ‘which could result in an increase in unintended pregnancies and maternal mortality’.

President Trump also reinstated the global gag rule upon his inauguration in January. This rule limits the ability of NGOs receiving USAID funding for health programming from providing family planning support overseas. 

While the long-term consequences of the withdrawal of US funding are yet to be fully understood, many still have hope. For Tanvi Nagpal, a strategy and learning adviser for the Water Environment Federation whose consultancy work on urban water and sanitation ceased when the USAID announcement was made, that hope lies with other countries, multilateral development banks and philanthropic donors. They, she believes, may step up to fill the funding void left by USAID so that programmes can continue and rule of law and human rights don’t regress on a global scale.

The issue for Madasamy, however, is that China may be among the donors filling the place of the US – and it won’t necessarily do so with the same requirement for aid recipients to adhere to human rights. He fears that as human rights become less of a focus, marginalised communities, such as LGBTQI+ persons and ethnic minorities, may in particular become more vulnerable to discrimination and violence.

Marchán, who’s also a partner at Pérez Bustamante & Ponce in Ecuador, says that to minimise the impact, remaining donors should invest in building the capacity of local organisations and governments to manage and sustain development programmes independently. Meanwhile, they should engage in advocacy efforts to highlight the importance of development aid and encourage policymakers to reconsider funding cuts, he adds. ‘By taking these steps, it may be possible to mitigate some of the negative impacts of USAID cuts and continue to support global development efforts’, says Marchán.
 

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