The United Nations is considering sweeping reforms to streamline operations and cut costs, according to a confidential internal memo obtained by Reuters. The proposed overhaul would merge numerous agencies into four main departments—peace and security, humanitarian affairs, sustainable development, and human rights—in what could become the biggest structural change in decades.
The review, led by a task force appointed by Secretary-General António Guterres, comes amid mounting financial pressures, including steep foreign aid cuts by the U.S. under President Donald Trump. The U.S., the UN’s largest donor, is reportedly $2.7 billion behind on payments and has slashed additional aid as part of an "America First" policy, severely impacting humanitarian programs.
Suggestions in the six-page document include consolidating agencies such as UNICEF, WHO, the World Food Programme, and the UN refugee agency into a single humanitarian body. Other proposals involve folding UNAIDS into WHO and relocating staff from high-cost cities like New York and Geneva to lower-cost regions. One controversial idea even proposes merging the World Trade Organization—though it is not a UN body—with UN development agencies.
The memo highlights chronic inefficiencies, such as overlapping mandates, bloated senior positions, and a lack of exit strategies for expanding missions. A second internal note instructs UN departments to submit lists of relocatable jobs by mid-May. The financial strain is already visible: UNICEF expects a 20% budget cut, while the UN migration agency anticipates a 30% drop, affecting 6,000 jobs.
Guterres, who has long called for reform, aims to reduce bureaucracy and modernize the organization. But the memo's frank language—citing fragmentation, inefficiency, and geopolitical challenges—underscores the urgency of transformation as the UN grapples with one of the worst funding crises in its history.