Faced with years, serious problems with its regular budget, the UN is expected to reduce its secretariat staff by 20% – a percentage translated into thousands of positions – in the context of reform to make the international organization more effective, according to an internal document that came to the knowledge of the French agency.

‘The Secretary -General has set an ambitious goal, to achieve a great deal reduction (between 15% and 20%) of the regular budget us in 2026, including a reduction by 20% of positions in the secretariat“, Said the UN financial auditor, Chadramouli Ramanhan, in a message he addressed to dozens of departments this week.

The UN regular budget for 2025 amounts to $ 3.7 billion.

OR Secretariat of his body responsible for a series of duties assigned to him by the General Assembly or the Security Council, employed at the end of 2023 somewhere 35,000 peoplemainly in New York, but also in Geneva, Vienna and Nairobi.

The plan “UN80”

As part of the “UN80” initiative in order to improve the effectiveness of the international organization, with the backdrop of continuing difficulties in its budget, Antonio Guterres’s Secretary General recently warned that “painful” changes, including 20%, including 20% ​​of staff.

The internal document, dated May 27, asks the heads of departments to compile until June 13th Catalogs with positions to be removedwith the emphasis on those that are likely to be overlapping, are unnecessary or not considered ‘critical’.

“I count on your collaboration in this collective effort,” the financial auditor said, recognizing the ‘tight timetable’.

Personnel reductions, if approved by the General Assembly, which will be called upon to adopt the regular budget of 2026, will be in force from 1 January 2026 for positions that are vacant, then, in keeping with the internal regulations, for positions in which employees are employed.

The document clarifies that services such as The High Commissioner for Refugees, the Assistance and Works Office for Palestinian refugees in the Middle East (UNRWA) and the UN Women, who receive funding from the regular budget, will receive separate instructions.

The UN has long been facing a chronic liquidity crisis, due to the fact that some member states do not fully pay their contribution, or payments are not made within deadlines.

The US, which is the country with the highest contribution to the regular budget of the international organization (amounts to 22%, based on the quota set by the General Assembly), had a downward debt of $ 1.5 billion in late January, according to a UN spokesman. While China, the country with the second largest contribution (20%), made its own payments only in late December.

Concerns are added to the liquidity problems due to huge cuts in funding for international aid by the Donald Trump government. Many UN services are already hit hard by these cuts.