The United Nations has confirmed that its programs and operations will move forward as planned, even after the United States announced it is stepping away from numerous international bodies.
UN leaders said the decision will not stop the organisation from serving the millions of people who rely on its work worldwide.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres expressed disappointment over the US withdrawal but emphasized that the UN remains committed to carrying out the responsibilities entrusted to it by Member States.
“As we have consistently underscored, assessed contributions to the United Nations regular budget and peacekeeping budget, as approved by the General Assembly, are a legal obligation under the UN Charter for all Member States, including the United States,” said Stéphane Dujarric, the Secretary-General’s Spokesperson, on Thursday.
He added that every UN entity will continue to implement the mandates given by Member States without interruption.
“All United Nations entities will go on with the implementation of their mandates as given by Member States. The United Nations has a responsibility to deliver for those who depend on us. We will continue to carry out our mandates with determination.”
The announcement from Washington follows a sweeping move by the Trump administration to leave 66 international organisations, including 31 UN agencies. Some of these institutions were originally set up with strong US support.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the institutions had become “anti-American, useless or wasteful” and that further reviews of additional organisations were ongoing. He said the withdrawals were part of fulfilling a campaign promise to stop funding “globalist bureaucrats,” whose agendas, according to Washington, conflict with US interests.
“It is no longer acceptable to send the blood, sweat, and treasure of the American people to institutions with little to show for it,” Rubio said.
Among the UN bodies affected are the UN Conference on Trade and Development, the UN Population Fund, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the UN Democracy Fund, and several Secretariat offices handling issues such as children in armed conflict and sexual violence.
Four of the five UN regional commissions—covering Asia-Pacific, Western Asia, Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean—are also included.
Rubio described the organisations as “redundant, mismanaged, poorly run, or captured by actors advancing agendas contrary to our own,” and argued that US involvement posed risks to national sovereignty, prosperity, and freedoms. The United States has also left bodies it once helped shape, including the Global Counterterrorism Forum and the International Trade Centre.
“We will not continue expending resources, diplomatic capital and the legitimising weight of our participation in institutions that are irrelevant to or in conflict with our interests,” Rubio added. He said the administration was choosing “prudence and purpose” over “inertia and ideology.”
Although the US has previously withdrawn from global institutions when international rules limited its flexibility, officials say the current decision is unusual because of its breadth and its rejection of multilateralism as the standard approach.
Rubio said the US will continue to cooperate only where it benefits Americans, stating, “We seek cooperation where it serves our people and will stand firm where it does not.”
Despite the departures, Guterres reaffirmed that the UN’s work will continue and that all programmes and initiatives will proceed as planned, prioritising the millions who depend on its services around the world.
