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Abby Stoddard @abbystoddard.bsky.social · Aug 19

The first World Humanitarian Day was marked in 2009, a year when 113 aid workers died in attacks. Last year the toll was 383, and 2025 may break the record again. With states now the majority perpetrators, it’s hard not to see these numbers as a bellwether for the state of IHL and the global order.

Humanitarian Outcomes @humoutcomes.bsky.social · Aug 19

2025 Aid Worker Security Report - Defenceless: Aid worker security amid the humanitarian funding collapse, is now available for download here - humanitarianoutcomes.org/AWSR_2025
#WHD2025 #ActForHumanity #Notatarget @unocha.org
@abbystoddard.bsky.social

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Abby Stoddard @abbystoddard.bsky.social · Jul 26

Air drops will bring more chaos, danger and indignity. Let the aid in overland, to be distributed safely by experienced humanitarian providers. Enforce the laws of war.

Tom Newby @tomnewby.co.uk · Jul 26

We're now into air drops - the worst, most tokenistic way to deliver aid. The world play acts at action while Palestinians die.

Instead the world's powers needs to treat Israel like the genocidal regime it is and compel it to stop, and allow aid in properly.

www.bbc.com/news/article...

Starmer suggests UK will play role in Gaza aid air drops

His comments come as he faces calls from 221 cross-party MPs for the UK to recognise a Palestinian state.

www.bbc.com

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Reposted by Abby Stoddard

Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.bsky.social · Jul 15

"Five months into its unprecedented dismantling of foreign-aid programs, the Trump administration has given the order to incinerate food instead of sending it to people who need it"
@hana-kiros.bsky.social, on spending $130,000 to burn food worth $800,000
www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...

The Trump Administration Is About to Incinerate 500 Tons of Emergency Food

Federal workers warned for months that the high-energy biscuits would go to waste.

www.theatlantic.com

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Abby Stoddard @abbystoddard.bsky.social · Mar 10

We may never know the true impact of the US foreign aid cuts, since losing the funding also means losing the ability to measure. Some colleagues and I wrote about the threat to humanitarian data. @newhumanitarian.bsky.social

The data streams that underpin humanitarian response are about to collapse

Famine warning, needs assessments, health data: Humanitarian action will be groping in the dark if vital data sources are allowed to crumble.

www.thenewhumanitarian.org

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Reposted by Abby Stoddard

Katie Drummond @katie-drummond.bsky.social · Mar 3

"Medical staff along the Uganda–DRC border have been terminated. Soldiers are everywhere. The laboratory built to deal with zoonotic diseases with US funding is empty."

www.wired.com/story/race-t...

A Lethal Mystery Illness Is Spreading in Congo. USAID Cuts Have Slowed the Response

Gutting USAID is already having a devastating impact around the world. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, teams that would normally be racing to identify a fatal sickness are gone.

www.wired.com

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Abby Stoddard @abbystoddard.bsky.social · Mar 3

Whatever humanitarian system emerges from the one that is currently collapsing will need to be built and maintained by nation-state funding, with larger economies footing most of the bill, as is logical and appropriate. 6/6

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Abby Stoddard @abbystoddard.bsky.social · Mar 3

Insurance, whether risk-pooling, catastrophe bonds, or sovereign risk transfer schemes, needs governments to act as premium payers, reinsurers, or backstop funders. The reality is that most humanitarian crises—especially conflicts—are not insurable through standard private-sector risk models. 5/6

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Abby Stoddard @abbystoddard.bsky.social · Mar 3

But what about innovative financing mechanisms? These are promising and important, but at their core, they all reduce to insurance models. The insurance schemes needed at this scale ultimately still rely on state participation:... 4/6

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Abby Stoddard @abbystoddard.bsky.social · Mar 3

Philanthropy is also not the answer. Bill Gates has said that while philanthropies can innovate and take risks, they cannot replace central role of the state in meeting human needs. It is states that have the mandate and the compelling interest in human welfare and a stable global system. 3/6

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Abby Stoddard @abbystoddard.bsky.social · Mar 3

The private sector can't replace the role of states in humanitarian aid. Corporates can and do contribute, their capacity is constrained by market logic: their obligation is to shareholders, so could never prioritize unprofitable interventions, such as aid to conflict zones or protracted crises. 2/6

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Abby Stoddard @abbystoddard.bsky.social · Mar 3

Yes, the humanitarian sector was dependent on the US and is in crisis now owing to this single point of failure. But it is unavoidable that the nation representing >25% of the global economy should provide at least that share of relief aid. Global emergency response requires state contributions. 1/6

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Reposted by Abby Stoddard

Humanitarian Outcomes @humoutcomes.bsky.social · Mar 3

There are now 204 local and national humanitarian NGOs reporting program reductions. This is 79% of all survey respondents from 36 countries.

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Abby Stoddard @abbystoddard.bsky.social · Mar 2

Other donor governments will not be able to fill the USAID hole, but should coordinate and collectively triage where to allocate additional emergency funding. The strategy must consider security resourcing for the remaining (mainly local) aid actors.

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Abby Stoddard @abbystoddard.bsky.social · Mar 2

This will be happening in many places. Unpaid vendors, desperate communities cutoff from aid, and no budget for security will drive more security incidents-until there are no more aid operations remaining to attack.

Jesse Eisinger @jeisinger.bsky.social · Mar 1

NEW: When the Trump Admin abruptly cancelled almost all USAID programs, it also refused to pay $2bln the U.S. govt owes **for work that’s been done.**

One of the cut-off programs in Syria couldn’t afford security and was robbed by masked men.

www.propublica.org/article/trum...

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Reposted by Abby Stoddard

Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · Feb 27

7. Over 1,000 food kitchens in Sudan, a country with almost 25 million people experiencing acute food insecurity – terminated. www.npr.org/2025/02/27/g...

Trump administration cuts most USAID programs. And, the ethics of leaving your job

Nearly all USAID programs have been eliminated. One official says it's a "global health massacre." And, a federal judge will hear arguments over the decision to fire thousands of probationary workers.

www.npr.org

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Abby Stoddard @abbystoddard.bsky.social · Feb 25

These reports continue to come in from L/NNGOs. Many of them won't survive. The defunding crisis may ultimately give birth to a more localized humanitarian system, as some optimistically posit, but right now it sure feels like the opposite: local response capacities are the first to be obliterated.

Humanitarian Outcomes @humoutcomes.bsky.social · Feb 25

There are now 159 local and national NGOs reporting program reductions across 33 countries.

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Reposted by Abby Stoddard

Edward Wong @ewong.bsky.social · Feb 14

Top USAID officials are trying to create a false narrative that life-saving aid has continued despite Trump’s blanket halt to foreign aid. Our @nytimes.com reporting shows the exact opposite. USAID even issued an internal email to stop applications for waivers: www.nytimes.com/2025/02/12/u...

USAID Lifesaving Aid Remains Halted Despite Rubio’s Promise

A new directive puts further exemptions on hold. Aid workers also say the U.S. government has made it impossible to pay partners around the world.

www.nytimes.com

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Abby Stoddard @abbystoddard.bsky.social · Feb 14

One local NGO survey respondent in Mali reports the compelled "cessation of protection services: 26,207 people including 7,913 adult women, 4,412 adult men + 13,882 children."

Humanitarian Outcomes @humoutcomes.bsky.social · Feb 14

Latest numbers from our survey. More local/national NGOs working in humanitarian response are reporting partial or full programme shutdowns.
humanitarianoutcomes.org/projects/gdho

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Abby Stoddard @abbystoddard.bsky.social · Feb 12

In addition to the numbers, we are gathering statements from these local NGOs. One from Haiti that supported victims of armed gangs in an IDP camp: "We were forced to stop all ongoing activities with the children. The women and children were displaced to makeshift camps in Port-au-Prince."

Humanitarian Outcomes @humoutcomes.bsky.social · Feb 12

Local and national NGOs are severely affected by the US aid freeze, and some are already shutting down. We are surveying thousands of organisations in our GDHO database and will keep this tracker updated. #KeepCounting
humanitarianoutcomes.org/projects/gdho

Reposted by Abby Stoddard

Humanitarian Outcomes @humoutcomes.bsky.social · Feb 10

When @abbystoddard.bsky.social briefed the SC in November, the # of aid worker fatalities in 2024 had reached 282. In the current defunding crisis, she expects violent incidents may rise initially and then fall, as many programs stop completely and there are fewer people delivering aid.

Protection of civilians in armed conflict

YouTube video by Humanitarian Outcomes

www.youtube.com

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Abby Stoddard @abbystoddard.bsky.social · Feb 10

With crucial datasets now going dark, it is important that the Aid Worker Security Database, and all others that can, #keepcounting

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Abby Stoddard @abbystoddard.bsky.social · Feb 7

It pays to push back in the courts. NGO boards, take note.

Trump Administration Live Updates: Judge Pauses Job Cuts at USAID

www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Abby Stoddard

Reuters @reuters.com · Feb 7

The largest US government workers' union and an association of foreign service workers sued the Trump administration in an effort to reverse its aggressive dismantling of the US Agency for International Development reut.rs/41fBb9n

Trump administration sued by government workers over cuts to USAID

The largest U.S. government workers' union and an association of foreign service workers sued the Trump administration on Thursday in an effort to reverse its aggressive dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development.

reut.rs

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Abby Stoddard @abbystoddard.bsky.social · Feb 6

Important piece by @sara-pantuliano.bsky.social. The lynchpin of the humanitarian system has been removed, and it is collapsing. But if other governments' humanitarian arms can be mobilized, it can be built back better. We must not "wait and see" for too long.

Sara Pantuliano @sara-pantuliano.bsky.social · Feb 6

At @odi.global we've been stunned by the brutality of USAID's shutdown. Our thoughts are w/ staff & people who will be gravely impacted globally.

This attack reflects a trend of dwindling multilateral engagement. Decisive, collection is needed now to rebuild a future that serves everyone. My 2¢ 👇

Out of the rubble

At a time when humanitarian needs are escalating and aid budgets continue to be cut, new forms of collective leadership are urgently needed.

odi.org

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Abby Stoddard @abbystoddard.bsky.social · Feb 4

Much foreign aid, especially humanitarian relief, has long had Republican support as well. Real pushback should be possible.

Axios @axios.com · Feb 4

SCOOP: Senate Democrats are privately eyeing delays on all Trump nominees as retaliation for his restructuring of USAID, Axios has learned.

Scoop: Senate Dems plot to delay all Trump nominees in retaliation for USAID restructuring

Senate Democrats are privately discussing an escalation beyond "blanket hold."

www.axios.com

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