An Ottawa-based international refugee organization has called for a major overhaul of the global humanitarian aid system amid significant declines in funding from key donor countries. The World Refugee and Migration Council unveiled an 18-month initiative on Thursday aimed at identifying practical reforms to adapt the international response to refugee crises in an era of shrinking resources.
According to a report released by the council, the current humanitarian aid framework, originally developed in the aftermath of World War II, faces a “profound challenge” due to steep budget cuts, particularly from the United States. U.S. funding for humanitarian aid, historically the backbone of global support, has fallen by 57 percent and increasingly focuses on countries aligned with American geopolitical interests. The Trump administration’s dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the reallocation of foreign assistance funding to the State Department contributed to this decline. Official development assistance from the U.S. dropped from approximately US$65 billion in 2024 to US$29 billion in 2025, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
The report also highlights reductions in aid from other major contributors, including the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, and France, with humanitarian aid expected to decrease further in 2026. Canada’s federal government, under Prime Minister Mark Carney, cut $2.7 billion from the country’s foreign aid budget over four years in its 2025 budget, a move aid groups warned would exacerbate global humanitarian crises, including the displacement caused by the civil war in Sudan. The government defended the cuts, stating that assistance would be prioritized for countries deemed most in need.
The World Refugee and Migration Council’s new initiative will seek to engage governments, global think tanks, United Nations agencies, and development finance institutions such as the World Bank in developing a blueprint for reforming humanitarian aid. A key focus will be on improving support for long-term displaced populations in accessing employment, education, and basic services to reduce dependency on external aid.
The report criticizes the current system for being underfunded and heavily influenced by donor countries’ geopolitical agendas. It emphasizes that the humanitarian sector has shifted from its original emergency relief mandate to managing prolonged crises, often with overlapping programs that increase costs. To address this, aid organizations are urged to reduce duplication and competition, with success measured by outcomes for displaced populations rather than the volume of aid distributed.
Ninette Kelley, chair of the council, stressed the importance of maintaining life-saving assistance while acknowledging that emergency aid alone is insufficient for protracted displacement situations. “Without a longer-term strategy, responses will continue to rely on short-term measures, allowing situations to worsen and increasing both human suffering and financial burdens,” she wrote.
Council president Fen Osler Hampson, who is also a professor at Carleton University, noted that global conflicts have displaced nearly 118 million people—an unprecedented level since 1946. He cited modeling suggesting that cuts in U.S. aid could cause more than 14 million additional deaths by 2030, rising to 22 million when factoring in reductions from other donors. Given that nearly 70 percent of refugees have been displaced for five years or longer, Hampson called for a reconfiguration of the humanitarian system to improve efficiency, effectiveness, and responsiveness to local needs rather than merely reducing services.
The report urges middle-power nations to build on initiatives like the Partners for Multilateralism, which Canada endorsed at the recent United Nations General Assembly, to form coalitions that maximize the impact of humanitarian funds in response to diminishing U.S. support. It stated that with traditional leadership waning, middle powers must step forward—not to replace lost funding, but to ensure aid dollars achieve greater reach and effectiveness.