Trump signs order halting US participation with several UN agencies including UNRWA

President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order that halts US participation in several UN agencies and initiates a comprehensive review of US financial contributions to the world body.

In signing the executive order, Mr Trump said he supports the UN but that it has to “get their act together”.

“They've got to be fair to countries that deserve fairness. There are some countries, as you know, that are outliers, that are really bad, and they're being almost preferred as countries to those that do their job,” Mr Trump said at the White House.

“They're going to end up losing their credibility, like other organisations, and then they're going to be nothing. The potential of the United Nations, and not everybody agrees with me on this, the potential of the United Nations is fantastic.”

His executive order halts US participation in the UN Human Rights Council and the UN relief agency for Palestinians, UNRWA. It also initiates a review of its involvement with the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco).

The Secretary General's spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, told The National from day one, US support for the United Nations has saved countless lives and advanced global security and the UN chief looks forward to continuing his productive relationship with President Trump and the US government to “strengthen that relationship in today’s turbulent world”.

“The Secretary General has worked tirelessly to implement many reforms in the Secretariat to increase efficiency, impact and innovation,” He said. “As President Trump has indicated, the UN plays a crucial role in taking on big challenges so that individual countries don’t have to do it on their own at far greater expense”.

During his first term, from 2017 to 2021, Mr Trump had withdrawn the US from the 47-member UNHRC, claiming it had a disproportionate focus on Israel and included countries with poor human rights records. The US was not a member of the Geneva-based council until president Joe Biden re-engaged in 2021, with the US serving a term from 2022 to 2024. In October 2024, the Biden administration decided not to stand for a second term and remain as an observer state at the HRC with no voting rights.

Mr Trump also halted funding to UNRWA in 2018, demanding unspecified reforms and urging Palestinians to return to peace talks with Israel. The agency, which provides essential services to millions of Palestinian refugees, faced significant financial strain as a result. Mr Biden later restored funding to UNRWA in 2021.

Juliette Touma, UNRWA’s spokeswoman, said the UN agency has not been receiving aid funding from the US since January last year.

Ms Touma said the agency’s financial situation is expected to worsen, even before an anticipated decision by Mr Trump to continue the halt to its funding.

“The financial health of UNRWA is very, very bad and it got worse over the past few months and is expected to continue to worsen,” she told reporters at UN headquarters in Geneva.

Despite the challenges, Palestine’s representative to the UN, Riyad Mansour, highlighted the strong international support for the agency.

“Although it will create additional hardship for the community of Palestinian refugees, there are so many countries standing with us,” he told reporters.

He noted that more than 125 countries are part of a coalition defending UNRWA at the UN, many of which are major donors. “They pay, they pledge, they will continue to pay and to defend UNRWA, to carry its mandate until there is a just solution to the question of the refugees,” Mr Mansour added.

Pakistan's UN envoy, Munir Akram, told The National defunding UNRWA or any other humanitarian agency, “would be very disappointing, because lives are at stake”.

Israel's UN ambassador, Danny Danon, hailed Mr Trump's executive order on the UN Human Rights Council and UNRWA, thanking him for his decision.

“The Human Rights Council has not been promoting human rights for a long time – it is aggressively promoting extreme anti-Semitism,” Mr Danon said. “At the same time, UNRWA has long lost its status as an independent humanitarian organisation, and has turned into a terrorist authority controlled by Hamas under the guise of a humanitarian agency. Every dollar that goes to UNRWA helps terrorism.”

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BRIEF SCORES:

Toss: Nepal, chose to field

UAE 153-6: Shaiman (59), Usman (30); Regmi 2-23

Nepal 132-7: Jora 53 not out; Zahoor 2-17

Result: UAE won by 21 runs

Series: UAE lead 1-0

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Our legal consultant

Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants

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He became the first Emirati to climb Mount Everest in 2011, from the south section in Nepal

He ascended Mount Everest the next year from the more treacherous north Tibetan side

By 2015, he had completed the Explorers Grand Slam

Last year, he conquered K2, the world’s second-highest mountain located on the Pakistan-Chinese border

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Brief scores:

Toss: Sindhis, elected to field first

Kerala Knights 103-7 (10 ov)

Parnell 59 not out; Tambe 5-15

Sindhis 104-1 (7.4 ov)

Watson 50 not out, Devcich 49

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ELIO

Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett

Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina

Rating: 4/5

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What can victims do?

Always use only regulated platforms

Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion

Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)

Report to local authorities

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Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence

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THE BIO

Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979

Education: UAE University, Al Ain

Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6

Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma

Favourite book: Science and geology

Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC

Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.

HWJN

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Call the hotline on 0502955999 or send "thenational" to the following numbers:

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COMPANY PROFILE

Name: ARDH Collective

Based: Dubai

Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi

Sector: Sustainability

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Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
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An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
Specialist robotics and science laboratories
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Living in...

This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.

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In the role: Since January 2015

Lives: In the UAE

Background: M&A, investment banking

Studied: Corporate finance

The candidates

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5pm: Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 1,400m
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7pm: Maiden (PA) Dh70,000 1,600m
7.30pm: Al Ain Mile Group 3 (PA) Dh350,000 1,600m
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Amith's selections:
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5.30pm: Dahawi
6pm: Taajer
6.30pm: Pharitz Oubai
7pm: Winked
7.30pm: Shahm
8pm: Raniah

Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme

Priority access to new homes from participating developers
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Flexible payment plans from developers
Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates

Some of Darwish's last words

"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008

His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.

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Sole survivors

Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.

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