Women’s Refugee Commission joins Friends Committee on National Legislation in Letters on Foreign Aid Budgets Being Unfairly Targeted and Cut

Washington, DC – The Women’s Refugee Commission (WRC) signed onto letters from The Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) and more than 50 other organizations dedicated to promoting peace while advancing and protecting human rights, warning Congressional appropriators that the recently approved cuts to peacebuilding, human rights, humanitarian aid, migration, foreign climate aid, and poverty-focused development assistance is a sure-fire recipe for instability, heightened insecurity, and suffering.

Sarah Costa, WRC’s executive director, called for the Senate Appropriations Committee to take action.

“As we struggle to keep pace with dire needs for humanitarian assistance, it is critical to increase investment in multi-lateral mechanisms that provide life-saving services and resources to conflict-affected populations. The US’s contributions to the United Nations regular budget, key UN agencies, UN country mandates and coordinating mechanisms help ensure that direct humanitarian assistance is delivered where it is needed most. Now is the time for the United States to step up its role in international cooperation and increase support for multilateral crisis prevention and response,” Costa said. “The Women’s Refugee Commission calls upon the Senate Appropriations Committee to maintain the current budget for multilateral foreign assistance and continue investing in the SFOPs subcommittee by the Committee’s 302(b) allocations, which is our strongest pipeline for inclusive crisis prevention, response, peacebuilding and sustainable recovery.”

View the full letter to Congressional appropriators. To view the full statement from all organizations, visit the FCNL’s website.