GENEVA, Mar 14 (AFP): The UN migration agency, which has been hit hard by US foreign aid cuts, has launched more mass layoffs, impacting around a fifth of staff at its Geneva headquarters, employees said Friday.
Fresh cuts at the International Organization for Migration are expected to impact at least 20 per cent of the more than 1,000 current headquarters staff, according to several sources familiar with the situation.
"This would mean over 200 staff. I believe it's more," a current IOM employee told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The news comes just weeks after the United Nations agency, which at the end of last year employed around 22,000 people, sent out pink slips to some 3,000 staff.
They were among around 5,000 who had been working with the US refugee resettlement programme, which has been halted by the new administration of President Donald Trump.
"I can't really describe the mood," the current employee said.
Earlier this week, staff in IOM's media department were "lined up (for) 15-minute individual meetings to announce they were sacked", which "turned into less than five-minute meetings", the employee said.
People were "coming out crying".
A former employee, who also asked not to be named, said "dozens of staff" received notice on Thursday, "and more to follow", adding that "entire functional units have been cut".
According to sources on the inside, IOM's partnership programme and its information and communications technology section were among the hard-hit divisions.
Contacted by AFP, IOM itself did not confirm the extent of the fresh layoffs.
But a spokesperson acknowledged the agency was "making necessary adjustments, including proportional and balanced workplace reductions and operational efficiencies".
"We fully recognise the profound impact this is having on both the communities we serve and our staff, and we are closely monitoring these changes and making sure that our capacity is fit for purpose," the spokesperson said.
The latest layoffs come after Trump's campaign to dismantle US foreign aid contributions has put the entire humanitarian community into a tailspin.
The IOM, which serves more than 280 million migrants globally, has been relying on the United States for more than 40 per cent of its annual budget.
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