CRS, Caritas warn of global impact of USAID shutdown

(OSV News) -- Catholic Relief Services and Caritas agencies throughout the world are warning that the Trump administration's freezing of the U.S. Aid for International Development -- which has provided major funding for the groups for over six decades -- will harm millions globally.

As part of its suspension of foreign aid, the administration has moved to shutter the agency, which was established in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy following the signing of the Foreign Assistance Act.

The agency was designed to end extreme poverty and promote democratic, self-reliant societies, tasks then described by Kennedy as inescapable "moral … economic … (and) political obligations" for the U.S. as the world's wealthiest and most free nation.

Caritas Internationalis -- the universal Catholic Church's global federation of more than 160 humanitarian organizations -- said in a Feb. 10 statement it "strongly condemns" the decision as "reckless."

While noting it "recognizes the right of any new administration to review its foreign aid strategy," Caritas said "the ruthless and chaotic way this callous decision is being implemented threatens the lives and dignity of millions."

Caritas secretary general Alistair Dutton said in the statement that "stopping USAID abruptly will kill millions of people and condemn hundreds of millions more to lives of dehumanising poverty."

"This is an inhumane affront to people’s God-given human dignity, that will cause immense suffering," Dutton said.

Cardinal Michael Czerny, prefect of the Vatican's Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, said in an interview with The Associated Press that halting USAID funding amid ongoing programming was "a serious thing."

Like Caritas, the cardinal affirmed a government's right to review its foreign aid commitments, but said, "It would be good to have some warning because it takes time to find other sources of funding or to find other ways of meeting the problems we have."

Cardinal Czerny also pointed out in the interview that USAID's budget, while large, is less than 1% of the U.S. gross domestic product.

According to USASpending.gov, during fiscal year 2024 the top awarding agency for prime awards and transactions was the Department of Health and Human Services, at $1.85 trillion, with USAID in 13th place at $30.25 billion.

A federal judge has issued a temporary restraining order on some components of the USAID shutdown -- and in the meantime, CRS is urgently calling for donations to continue its work.

In a Feb. 4 email blast, Sean Callahan, president and CEO of CRS, the U.S. Catholic Church's overseas relief and development agency, warned that "with programs paused, the effect is dire."

He said that "families in Ukraine will lose safe housing," since CRS will be forced to "stop home repairs, leaving them to endure freezing temperatures in severely damaged homes" amid Russia's full-scale invasion.

"Without heat or safe housing, children, older adults and people with disabilities are especially vulnerable to severe illness or even death," wrote Callahan.

He also said that "in Sudan, 18,000 families will face increasing hunger due to losing farming support ahead of the critical planting season."

In Vietnam, "nearly 8,000 people with disabilities and their caregivers will not receive therapy, equipment and support, endangering their health and directly impairing their ability to lead independent lives."

The stoppage of aid will also prevent 10,000 families in Guatemala from receiving "the tools, seeds and cash to prepare crops for the beginning of the April planting season," said Callahan.

He also noted that the aid suspension also stood to drive residents to migrate in the face of "worsening food security and malnutrition."

In a Feb. 6 email message, CRS and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops urged U.S.-based supporters to contact Congress and lift the freeze so that aid could resume.

The text of a letter to Congress linked in that email highlighted the Joint Emergency Operation Program funded by USAID in Ethiopia, through which U.S.-grown food (such as sorghum, yellow split peas and vegetable oil) provides emergency food assistance to some 2 million per month, "including pregnant and lactating women needing life-saving nutritional support and children under age 5 facing acute malnutrition."

CRS and the USCCB reiterated Callahan's emphasis on the direct connection between hunger and forced migration, noting that "families may migrate in search of food, leading to more displacement."

The Feb. 6 email also said that in Haiti -- which has endured years of political and economic crises, natural disasters and entrenched gang warfare -- the Resilience Food Security Activity works to head off hunger-driven migration by providing "more than 65,000 individuals with food assistance through US-grown commodities and fresh and animal source foods."

"Foreign assistance is not a handout. It is an essential investment to protect life, uphold human dignity, and pursue sustainable solutions to the world’s toughest challenges," said the letter. "When societies thrive, they contribute to greater global stability, reduce the risk of conflict and create safer, more prosperous environments that benefit everyone, including Americans."

Caritas Asia president Benedict Alo D’Rozario told Catholic media outlet LiCAS News that his organization relies on CRS for what the outlet described as "crucial capacity-building initiatives and staff support."

D'Rozario said the shutdown was being felt in Bangladesh, with more than 100 USAID projects operated by a number of organizations at a standstill, and three Caritas Bangladesh projects funded by USAID on hold, affecting more than 300 staffers.

Assistance has been drastically slashed for a program assisting Rohingya refugees in the city of Cox's Bazar, and the Catholic bishops of the Philippines said more than $603,000 worth of programming has been affected by the USAID halt, LiCAS News reported.

At the same time, Bishop Jose Colin Bagaforo, president of Caritas Philippines, said that organization "will continue its work serving the poor and advance the programs of the Church, regardless of USAID funding cuts."