The United States’ abrupt cuts to foreign assistance undermine the cooperation that is the foundation of the multilateral system and cause and exacerbate human rights harms against vulnerable populations globally.
The cuts have ended life-saving programs without reasonable warning, have put people’s rights to life and health at risk, and could force more people to flee their homes.
This briefing provides an initial assessment of the devastating impacts of the wide scale, arbitrary and abrupt stoppage of the United States’ foreign assistance to thousands of life-saving humanitarian, health, and human rights initiatives globally in response to the executive order ‘Reevaluating and realigning United States Foreign Aid’ issued by President Donald Trump on 20 January 2025.
Given the short time the policy has been in place and ongoing litigation over its validity, this briefing does not provide a full assessment of its impact. It is based principally on analysis of public documents, including court filings and executive orders, news and civil society reports, and legal frameworks carried out between January and May 2025.
The analysis is complemented by 43 interviews, as well as ongoing communication with NGOs, international organizations, public health specialists, and aid workers. Due to fear of reprisals and/or a desire to maintain relationships with funders in a context of shrinking civil society space, Amnesty International has mostly refrained from naming organizations it spoke with and has used information anonymously. It provides non-exhaustive case-studies of the impacts of US aid cuts to programs providing healthcare, life-saving support, and other human rights-related services in 12 countries where Amnesty International has been able to obtain access to information on the ground from reliable sources, and/or has recent or ongoing research and campaigns.
Prior to the Trump administration’s cuts, programs funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) and the U.S. Department of Labor had delivered foreign assistance in 177 countries. This included life-saving humanitarian aid, as well as funding for health sector development, clean water and sanitation, education and school supplies, agricultural programs to support food security, protection for human rights defenders and press freedom, whilst also addressing abusive workplaces and child labor. All of these were vital to guaranteeing the human rights of millions of beneficiaries.
This briefing provides a stark warning of the unfolding negative impacts from the abrupt disruption in U.S. foreign assistance previously appropriated by the United States Congress and funding of active programs around the world at the time of the cuts.