US asks UN agencies, aid groups: are you ‘anti-American’?

GENEVA: Washington has questioned UN agencies, nonprofits and charities that received US funds on whether they have “communist” links or support “gender ideology”, and other topics targeted by US President Donald Trump, several groups said.

A list of 36 questions was sent to small and large organisations alike as part of Washington’s ongoing review of its vast foreign aid spending. “I don’t think we have ever received anything like this,” said a staff member at a large humanitarian organisation.

While the questionnaire included typical donor queries about things like “cost-effectiveness” strategies, others seemed crafted to determine if grantees conform with the politics of President Donald Trump’s administration.

One question asked if organisations had “received ANY funding from (China), Russia, Cuba or Iran”, and for confirmation that there are no “DEI elements of the project”, referring to diversity, equity and inclusion, Trump’s bogeyman.

A list of 36 queries was sent to organisations as part of Washington’s ongoing review of its foreign aid spending

They were also asked to confirm that “this is not a climate or ‘environmental justice’ project”, and that it takes “appropriate measures to protect women and to defend against gender ideology”. And organisations were asked if they worked “with entities associated with communist, socialist, or totalitarian parties, or any party that espouses anti-American beliefs”.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters that “a number of UN entities have received questionnaires from the US government”, and would “respond in accordance with their respective rules”. A spokesperson with UNAIDS, which has counted on the US for half of its budget, confirmed it had received “several different questionnaires from the United States since the new administration arrived”. “We answer each time.” The deadlines for responding appear to differ.

‘Authoritarian’

“Authoritarian or anti-American regimes... ironically is a pretty accurate description of the Trump Administration,” Phil Lynch, head of the International Service for Human Rights (ISHR), said.

He said his organisation had “declined to respond” to the questionnaire, adding: “Our grants from the US government have been terminated.” ISHR was among a long line of organisations, ranging from NGOs to UN agencies, the Red Cross and other large international humanitarian actors, that said they had received the questionnaire.

Many voiced shock at the tone of the queries, sent out following Trump’s decision immediately upon his return to power in January to freeze virtually all US foreign aid pending the review. The sudden about-face by the country that traditionally has given most has sent the entire humanitarian community into a tailspin.

“It is fair to send out a questionnaire to people you give money to,... but (this questionnaire) doesn’t seem to be adapted to the humanitarian sector,” said a high-level official within a large international aid organisation. “What we find very problematic is that there are a lot of questions around certain political objectives.” Lucica Ditiu, head of STOP TB which also received the questionnaire, stressed that donor country had the prerogative to “look at the way their funding is being used”.

Published in Dawn, March 18th, 2025