Recently, it was revealed that the Trump government is demanding U.N. humanitarian agencies that disburse or receive U.S. funding fill out a questionnaire disclosing any connections to communism, socialism or anti-American beliefs, according to U.S. and U.N. documents obtained by the AP.
U.N. Refugee Agency and UNICEF joined the remaining agencies and bureaus at the recently disassembled U.S. Agency for International Development in acquiring the questionnaire, which investigated on several Trump administration concerns, including whether any of the programs were boosting diversity, equity and inclusion measures.
There was no indication of how widely the administration sent the survey, which was confirmed by a current USAID employee, a U.S. official and three U.N. officials. “I’m aware from some of our colleagues that a number of agencies have received these types of questionnaires,” U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters Thursday when asked about the survey.
In order to remain anonymous, the other officials discussed the document under condition of anonymity in order to avoid reprisal. The move is the latest effort by President Donald Trump’s administration to combat “waste, fraud and abuse” in the federal government, including by reviewing foreign assistance. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated the government has slashed 83% of programs overseas operated by USAID, the main U.S. foreign aid agency.
While some queries in the survey inquire about routine matters like whether a undertaking has a risk management framework, others probe organizations’ stand on a range of hot-button topics for Republicans, including whether they supply any abortion-related care or do work on DEI or “gender ideology” issues.
The questionnaire questions respondents to assure that “this is not a climate or ‘environmental justice’ project,” that the organization encourages free speech and that it “does not work with entities associated with communist, socialist, or totalitarian parties, or any party that espouses anti-American beliefs.”
According to one question, UN agencies themselves are a problem. Organizations are asked if their projects “reinforce U.S. sovereignty by limiting reliance on international organizations or global governance structures (e.g., UN, WHO)?”
The survey also asks organizations to rate their performance on a scale of “no impact” to “major impact” on questions including, “What impact does this project have on preventing illegal immigration to the U.S.?” and “How much does this project directly impact efforts to counter malign influence, including China?”
The comparatively few employees left at USAID were among the federal workers still striving to fill out the questionnaires, despite the Trump administration’s statement that it had already determined to gut the agency’s contracts, the USAID staffer stated.
One former diplomat stated the questions will appear “intrusive and uncomfortable” to anyone doing development work overseas.
“At the U.N., where you have 193 countries that represent every race, gender and language, diversity is a fact. It is not an ideology,”
stated Thomas Shannon, an ex-U.S. diplomat who performed under President Barack Obama and during Trump’s first government.
“It would be my hope that the United States would understand that maybe with a few exceptions, the programs at the U.N. are not designed to promote ‘woke’ ideology but to address very real obstacles and challenges,”
he added.
