The head of the U.N. children's agency says the war in Sudan has created the world’s largest and most devastating humanitarian crisis, with over 30 million people needing aid this year – 16 million of them children. UNICEF executive director Catherine Russell briefed the U.N. Security Council on Thursday on what she described as the “unimaginable suffering and horrific violence” that children in Sudan are enduring  during the nearly two-year war. She said an estimated 1.3 million children live in places where famine is occurring, and more than 770,000 children are expected to suffer “severe acute malnutrition” this year. Wthout aid, she said, many of them will die.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres has arrived in Bangladesh on a four-day visit to review the situation of more than 1 million Rohingya refugees amid the fear of aid cuts that could seriously affect them. Bangladesh’s foreign affairs adviser received Guterres at Dhaka’s main airport on Thursday. Guterres’s visit is his second to the country and is seen as crucial after the announcement of possible aid cuts by the World Food Program and others following the decision by Washington to shut down USAID operations. The interim government is hopeful that the visit will strengthen international efforts to mobilize aid for the Rohingya refugees and attract new global attention to the Rohingya crisis.

The U.N. chief is launching a new initiative to reform the United Nations as it approaches its 80th anniversary. Secretary-General António Guterres says the 193-member global organization needs an urgent update to deal with major funding reductions and still tackle the world's challenges. He dismissed any relationship between his UN80 Initiative and cuts to foreign aid and other programs that U.S. President Donald Trump and ally Elon Musk say will make the U.S. government more efficient. Guterres said the U.N. initiative aims to make its work more efficient, review its many mandates from the U.N. Security Council and General Assembly, and consider structural changes to streamline operations.

The European Union is doubling down on its pledge to continue supporting Ukraine against Russia’s illegal invasion and stepping up humanitarian aid when others pull back as the bloc of European countries reconciles with the reality of America's retreat on the global stage. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas never mentioned the United States in her speech to the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday. But her points were clearly aimed at President Donald Trump’s dismissive language about Europe, his massive cutbacks in aid to poor and conflict-torn countries, and his administration’s reluctance to acknowledge that Russia invaded Ukraine.

A federal judge says President Donald Trump overstepped his authority in freezing almost all spending on U.S. humanitarian and development work abroad. Judge Amir H. Ali said late Monday that the administration can no longer simply sit on the tens of billions of dollars that Congress has appropriated for foreign aid. But the judge stopped short of ordering Trump officials to use the money to revive the thousands of contracts they have abruptly terminated for U.S. aid and development work around the world. The ruling came hours after Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the Trump administration has finished its six-week purge of programs of the six-decade-old U.S. Agency for International Development, killing 83% of USAID programs.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is signaling that the Trump administration has finished its six-week dismantling of the six-decade-old U.S. Agency for International Development. Rubio made the announcement in a post on X on Monday. Rubio's says he will move the 18% of aid and development programs that survived the purge under the State Department. Rubio's announcement marks one of the secretary of state’s relatively few public comments on a dramatic cutback of U.S. foreign aid and development work. It's been executed by Trump political appointees and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency teams. The purge has marked a dramatic shift from decades of U.S. policy linking foreign aid to U.S. national security.

Rohingya refugees in crammed Bangladeshi camps say they are worried about a U.S. decision to cut food rations by half beginning next month, while a refugee official says the reduction will impact the nutrition of more than 1 million refugees and create social and mental pressure. The U.N.'s World Food Program has announced that cuts to food rations will take effect from April 1 in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, where dozens of camps are inhabited by Rohingya refugees. President Donald Trump abruptly stopped most foreign aid and dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development. Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order froze the funding for a 90-day review. It was not immediately clear if the WFP’s decision was directly related to the Trump administration's action.

Trump administration freezes on U.S. foreign aid have led many United Nations organizations to cut staff, budgets and services in places as diverse as Afghanistan, Sudan, Ukraine and even the United States. The U.S is the U.N.’s biggest single donor. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has lamented “severe cuts.” Here’s what some leading U.N. organizations have said about the impacts of the U.S. foreign aid freeze and their response to it — so far.

Charitable organizations that relied on U.S. foreign assistance are looking to other private and public donors now that the Trump administration has suspended nearly all foreign aid contracts. However, it looks unlikely that private foundations or other major donor countries are in position to fill the gap. The U.S. was the largest single funder of international development and humanitarian assistance. Private organizations and individuals would essentially need to double their commitments to make up for the recent dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development. The U.S. cuts have brought new attention to efforts to reform how foreign aid works.