Norwegian aid group lays off 1,700 workers over US aid freeze

Norsk Folkehjelp, a major Norwegian aid group that specialises in demining operations, said Tuesday it would let go 1,700 workers in 12 countries following a US decision to freeze foreign aid payments.

It is the second major Norwegian charity in two days to cut operations because of the decision by US President Donald Trump. The Norwegian Refugee Council said Monday it was suspending humanitarian activities in almost 20 countries.

Norsk Folkehjelp said in a statement that about $41 million, or 40 percent of its funding to clear mines and other explosives, had been lost.

The job cuts are in countries including Ukraine, Afghanistan, Iraq and Cambodia.

“Freezing support for mine and explosive ordnance disposal not only slows down current activities. It will delay and, in the worst case scenario, could reverse the enormous progress that the world, led by the United States, has made to combat these beastly weapons,” Raymond Johansen, Norsk Folkehjelp’s secretary general, said in the statement.

READ ALSO: USAID suspension disrupts family planning services in Bauchi-Official

Trump has unleashed a flurry of executive orders aimed at slashing federal spending, including shutting down the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

Trump said Sunday there was “hundreds of millions of dollars of money that’s going to places where it shouldn’t be going.”

Norsk Folkehjelp had employed some 3,200 people and operated in 21 countries, but shut down some operations in January when new US Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered a freeze on all US aid, except to Israel and Egypt.

“The highest cost will be paid by children, farmers and local communities affected by mines around the world,” Johansen said.

There were close to 7,000 casualties from landmines and cluster munitions worldwide in 2023, according to the group’s website.