The Red Cross announced on Monday, September 11, that due to decreasing funding, they would be compelled to implement additional reductions, having already reduced their workforce by 1,500 positions earlier this year. These measures are being taken as part of their ongoing efforts to preserve humanitarian aid without further reductions.
The Red Cross said Monday that shrinking funding would force it to make further cuts, after already slashing 1,500 jobs this year, amid efforts to void reducing humanitarian assistance.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said it expects to have to make cuts due to a 13-percent smaller budget for 2024 than its already shrunken 2023 one.
The organization had announced in April that it needed to save 430 million Swiss francs ($474 million) globally by early next year, resulting in around 1,500 job cuts worldwide.
The cuts, it said at the time, would mean that “at least 20 of currently 350 locations around the world will close”.
But on Monday, it said that would not be enough.
An initial forecast for 2024 indicated it would need to decrease its budget by an additional 13 percent next year, it said, estimating a budget of 2.1 billion Swiss francs ($2.4 billion).
That compares to the 2.4 billion revised budget for this year.
The full global impact of the cuts will not be known until the 2024 budget plans are completed in November, but ICRC said it already knew that around 270 positions would need to be cut at its Geneva headquarters, out of 1,400 people currently employed there.
Khalil Wakim, with AFP
