After threatening to cut funding and even leave the organization, the United States announced it will provide more than $1 billion to the United Nations for what it described as addressing global humanitarian needs.
The State Department said the money will go to UNICEF and the World Food Program, and that the funds are intended to bypass the UN’s regular budget mechanisms. In its statement, the department said the move is meant to correct the UN’s “bloated humanitarian bureaucracy” and to use U.S. money to push the system toward “efficiency, transparency and accountability.”
The aid package includes more than $218 million for UNICEF and more than $800 million for the World Food Program. The funds are slated for food, health care and sanitation assistance in about 40 countries.
Among the countries named are Ethiopia, Burma and Ukraine. The announcement came after earlier threats from Washington to suspend funding and leave the UN.