American Jewish World Service (AJWS) denounces the reckless and abrupt withdrawal of the United States from dozens of international organizations that advance global stability, sustainability, democracy and economic growth and have long served as safeguards against abuse of the most vulnerable people on the planet. Inspired by the Jewish commitment to justice, AJWS supports grassroots organizations pursuing human rights progress in communities that will face the greatest harm from the Trump administration’s dangerous and irresponsible action.
Entities named in the Presidential Memorandum, including several key United Nations organizations, have benefitted from decades of U.S. participation and leadership across a range of subjects that transcend any one nation. U.S. withdrawal marks a pointed retreat from a multilateral system of cooperation that has enhanced global security, protected the environment, delivered vital health services, and protected hundreds of millions of people from violation and abuse.
“For decades the United States has led the promotion of multilateral cooperation among nations,” said Robert Bank, AJWS’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “Turning away from global partnership on critical issues like climate change and global health targets the vulnerable while doing nothing to advance U.S. interests. But the downstream effects of this reversal will create a vacuum in international leadership that will quickly empower authoritarian leaders to act with impunity against grassroots human rights organizations and the people who benefit from their work.”
Although the organizations mentioned in the Presidential Memorandum guide everything from agriculture, energy, and science to free trade, security, and terrorism, this retreat from the global stage will be particularly damaging to marginalized communities that already sit in the Trump administration’s crosshairs. For women and adolescent girls, LGBTQI+ people, Indigenous communities, and advocates of free and fair elections regularly abused by their own governments, this withdrawal has enormous implications for safety.
AJWS calls on the U.S. Congress to assert its constitutional authority over already-approved appropriations, hold the State Department accountable for the inherent risk of a void where U.S. has long led, and recommit to our nation’s historic role promoting human dignity, democracy, equity and peace.