As the U.S. Pulls Back From the U.N., Rivals Stand to Gain

Mara Hvistendahl

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This year, while reporting in Geneva, I heard about a revealing meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Council that took place in the city this spring.

The meeting, an annual closed-door retreat of ambassadors, was held against the backdrop of President Trump’s threats to slash American funding for the United Nations. According to two diplomats who attended, as the group discussed how to save money, the ambassadors of China and Cuba had a suggestion: What if the council limited inquiries into, say, government-sanctioned abuses like torture, war crimes, and jailing of dissidents?

Diplomats told me this wasn’t the only time in recent months that representatives of those countries cited American funding cuts to justify what seem like convenient changes to how the U.N. conducts business. China and Cuba, along with other countries like Iran, Russia and Venezuela, have repeatedly suggested scaling back human rights investigations.

The United States has always been the U.N.’s largest financial contributor. But since taking office, Trump has upended its operations by withdrawing from the Human Rights Council and other agencies, and freezing funding for others. Officials are bracing for more cuts.

I’ve spent the past three months talking to diplomats and U.N. officials and reviewing documents, trying to understand the consequences of this pullback. What I’ve found: The Trump administration’s retreat is emboldening authoritarian nations to reshape the U.N. to their advantage.

Money problems

The U.N. has long had money issues, and the Trump administration’s retreat has made its cash crunch worse. As a result, U.N. leaders are looking to save money everywhere: by relocating positions to cities less expensive than New York or Geneva, ending some leases early, and even potentially cutting rations to peacekeeping troops.