(RVA News): The Isao Cardinal Kikuchi, head of the Caritas Internationalis, said the move by US president, Donald Trump, to suspend and eventually scrap the United States Agency for International Development [USAID] would expose millions of people across the globe to vulnerabilities.
In an interview with The Tablet, published on February 17, Cardinal Kikuchi, who is archbishop of Tokyo, expressed concern over the impact of the move on people worldwide who benefit from the assistance.
“Making any drastic change in policy, especially the policy affecting millions of vulnerable people, should be done with caution and concern for the precious gift of God, human dignity,” the cardinal said.
The Trump administration’s push to freeze and eventually abolish USAID would result in massive suffering across the globe, said Alistair Dutton, the secretary general of Caritas Internationalis, in an interview with Crux.
“Stopping USAID abruptly will kill millions of people and condemn hundreds of billions more to lives of dehumanising poverty,” he said. “This is an inhumane affront to people’s God-given human dignity that will cause immense suffering.”
Dutton said that terminating the assistance would leave humanitarian efforts grappling with tremendous difficulties.
“Killing USAID also presents massive challenges for all of us in the global humanitarian community, who will have to completely reassess whom we can continue to serve and how,” he said.
The World Health Organization [WHO] reported that the USAID suspension has a serious impact on global health. The health agency’s programmes on HIV, bird flu, polio, and pox have been affected.
The USAID freeze prompted a pause in HIV treatment, testing, and prevention services in 50 countries.
Trump claimed that USAID’s spending is “totally unexplainable,” but on February 14, a federal judge ordered his administration to temporarily lift the suspension of funding that has halted assistance for civilians and development worldwide.
The ruling pointed out the financial ravages triggered by the cutoffs in payments suffered by suppliers and non-profits.
Cardinal Kikuchi has appealed to the Trump administration to consider the impact of a freeze and closure of USAID on millions of vulnerable people worldwide.
