UN warns of a financial crisis threatening global programs and operations

The organization ended 2025 with record arrears in unpaid contributions, and the Secretary-General warned that the lack of funds jeopardizes humanitarian and peacekeeping programs. 

UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned member states that the United Nations is at risk of an “imminent financial collapse.” This is due to unpaid dues and a budget rule that requires the global body to return unspent money, which he describes as an outdated mechanism.

Guterres has spoken on many occasions about the UN’s liquidity crisis, but this is his strongest warning yet. This scenario is unfolding as its main contributor, the United States, moves away from multilateralism and chooses to take other paths. 

In a letter, the Secretary-General said that the organization’s crisis is deepening, threatens the implementation of programs and jeopardizes the organization’s operational continuity. The text, signed by Guterres on January 28, adds that this situation will deteriorate further in the near future. 

The outlook worsened when the United States cut voluntary funding to several UN agencies and refused to make mandatory payments to the regular and peacekeeping budgets.

For his part, United States President Donald Trump has described the UN as a body with “great potential,” but one that is not fulfilling the role for which it was created. The US president created a Board of Peace that some institutions believe could weaken the long-standing international organization.

The UN was founded in 1945 and has 193 member states. Since its creation, it has worked to maintain international peace and security, promote human rights, foster social and economic development, and coordinate humanitarian aid worldwide.

Although more than 150 States made their payments in 2025, the United Nations ended the year with a record US$1.56 billion in outstanding dues, double the 2024 figure.

The United States reduces its participation in international organizations

In his second presidency, Donald Trump decided to withdraw the United States from dozens of international organizations, many of which work to combat climate change.

Of the 66 bodies the United States has left, almost half are United Nations entities, including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, an agreement that underpins all international efforts to combat global warming. The list of affected bodies also includes the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the world’s leading authority on climate science.

In a statement, the White House said the decision was made because those organizations and institutions “do not serve the interests of the United States” and promote “ineffective or hostile agendas.”

The document signed by Donald Trump on January 7 states that, as President of the United States of America, he orders all executive departments and agencies to take immediate steps for the United States to withdraw from the organizations “as soon as possible.”

The White House said that many of the organizations named in the text are linked to the UN and are advisory bodies working on climate, development, gender equality and conflict, an agenda that the Donald Trump administration has repeatedly dismissed as promoting “woke” agendas, a label that has been applied to the identity-based demands of progressive sectors around the world, but above all in the United States.

In addition, the affected organizations that do not belong to the UN are entities focused on cooperation in clean energy, democratic governance and international security. Among them are the International Solar Alliance, the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance and the Global Counterterrorism Forum, among others.

The list of organizations and institutions was identified by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who said that President Trump has said it is no longer acceptable to send these bodies the blood, sweat and money of the American people with little or nothing to show for it. Rubio said the days when millions of taxpayer dollars went “to foreign interests at the expense of our people” are over.

As he did during his first presidency, last year Donald Trump once again withdrew the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement and refused to send a delegation to the COP30 climate summit in Brazil in 2025. He also withdrew from the World Health Organization (WHO), the UN Human Rights Council and the UN cultural agency, UNESCO.

In several statements, UN agencies noted that the United States has  historically benefited from multilateral frameworks and warned that the cuts directly affect the organization’s operational capacity. 

Guillermo Whpei