Trump signs order to withdraw US from UN bodies

United States President Donald Trump has signed a new executive order that would remove the United States from two United Nations (UN) organisations. The first is the UN Human Rights Council, and the second is an agency that helps Palestinian refugees called UNRWA (the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East).

Trump signed this order on Tuesday and also called for a review of America’s involvement in UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation).

“I always felt the UN has always had tremendous potential but it’s not living up to its potential,” Trump said. He added that the UN needs to be fair to countries that “deserved fairness”.

The U.S. used to be the UNRWA’s biggest supporter, giving nearly $500 million each year. But recently, in January 2024, President Biden stopped this funding after Israel said some UNRWA staff members were involved in Hamas’s attack that started the war in Gaza. Congress has now blocked any money going to UNRWA until at least March 2025.

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Trump’s decision to pull out of UNRWA comes at the same time as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is visiting Washington.

Regarding Gaza, Trump has made several statements. He said Palestinians need to leave Gaza and suggested they should move to “a nice piece of land” in nearby Jordan and Egypt. When asked about Israelis moving into Gaza, Trump said he doesn’t necessarily support that idea. “I just support cleaning it up and doing something with it,” he said about Gaza.

This isn’t Trump’s first time cutting money to UNRWA. During his previous presidency, he also stopped funding the agency. At that time, he said Palestinians needed to restart peace talks with Israel and that UNRWA needed to make some changes.

Since returning to office on 20 January, Trump has made similar moves, including pulling the U.S. out of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Paris climate agreement, which deals with global warming.