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00:00The world's largest foreign aid organisation, USAID, had a $42 billion budget in 2024,
00:07but on Friday it's essentially shutting up shop.
00:10The UN chief of humanitarian affairs told France24
00:14that leaves a gaping hole in global humanitarian aid budgets.
00:18So we've got to make the case afresh for humanitarian solidarity,
00:21for support for the poorest people, those in direst need.
00:24We've got to make that case in Washington and across America.
00:28We need a humanitarian movement now to step up and fill this gap,
00:33otherwise tens of millions will die.
00:35The USAID workforce, formerly 10,000 strong, will be reduced to 600.
00:41Most will be on furlough as of midnight on Friday and recalled to the United States.
00:47USAID receives policy guidance from the State Department,
00:50but remains an independent organisation,
00:53funding and sometimes running international development projects across the globe.
00:57Among them, Doctors of the World in Turkey.
01:0060% funded by USAID, they will have to shutter 12 field hospitals in northern Syria,
01:06cutting their daily consultations from 5,000 to 500.
01:11We just received the stop work order, you know, suddenly.
01:16I mean, imagine for us as a medical organisation that is providing,
01:20you know, life-saving services,
01:25you are saying basically close all the clinics,
01:28stop all your doctors and all your healthcare professionals.
01:33Trump's decision to gut the agency drew protests on Wednesday.
01:40And the employees aren't going down without a fight.
01:42Two trade unions filed a lawsuit on Thursday,
01:45arguing that the president does not have the authority to shut down a government agency
01:49without the approval of Congress.