THE International Committee of the Red Cross, one of the most important humanitarian organizations in the world, announced today that will eliminate approximately 1,500 jobss, due to lack of resources.

The board of directors of the ICRC, an organization that employs 20,000 people in more than 100 countries, thus endorsed the decision to reduce its expenses by 430 million Swiss francs this year and at the beginning of 2024.

“Given that budgets (…) will be smaller over the next two years, the ICRC should focus its efforts on programs and areas where we can have the greatest impact” underlines the organization based in Geneva.

The ICRC initially appealed to its donors for 2.8 billion Swiss francs (roughly the same amount in euros) but, like many other charities, has found that their generosity has been limited, mainly because countries invest large sums in their attempt to help Ukraine in the war with Russia. Thus, it revised its budget to 2 billion francs.

In terms of job cuts, the ICRC wants to keep redundancies to a minimum. For this it will freeze recruitment and rely on voluntary departures. At least 20 of its 350 offices around the world will be closed but that will happen “for example in a zone that can be covered by another ICRC office or where we can hand over the baton to other humanitarian organizations”he clarified.

The ICRC also decided to limit or stop some of its programs, but did not specify which ones. It only explained that it would first inform those expected to be most affected, the communities, its partners and its staff.

The Commission admitted that it is not uncommon for its financial needs not to be met at the start of the year, but this year things are “somewhat different”. “This year, we are facing simultaneous challenges,” he said, noting that donations fell short of expectations while costs rose significantly in the last quarter of 2022 due to inflation.

“Because of these factors, we started 2023 with a deficit of around 140 million francs”he clarified.