The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) suspended its US-funded humanitarian work due to President Donald Trump’s executive order to “re-evaluate” foreign aid on Tuesday. Providing essential aid to over 20 countries, the NRC said that this suspension is the first in its history, and expresses regret at the significant impact that this will have on the thousands of people reliant on its ongoing global humanitarian operations.

The organization says that the order impacts its ongoing emergency support in countries such as Ukraine, Afghanistan, Sudan  and Burkina Faso. Despite a waiver recently announced, the NRC criticized its effectiveness:

We welcome the temporary waiver announced by the US Secretary of State… But like many other organizations, NRC is unable to take advantage of this waiver unless the US government resumes payments to its partners for work completed before the foreign assistance pause and for these allowable lifesaving activities. We currently have millions of dollars in outstanding payment requests to the US government… We are soon unable to advance millions of dollars on ongoing programmes with no clarity on when we are reimbursed.

The group also criticized the limited scope of the waiver, which excludes vital emergency education programs and “protection activities” for youth. NRC calls for steps to be taken to prevent aid disruption, especially in light of the US’s position as “the world’s largest donor in absolute terms.” It calls for the stop-work orders to be “fully lifted during the course of the review.”

US President Trump, upon re-entering office, ordered an immediate 90-day pause in financial assistance to foreign actions. The order allows the assistance programs to be reviewed on their consistency with the US foreign policy.

Section 3(e) of the executive order allows the Secretary of State to waive the 90-day pause for “specific programs.” On January 28, Secretary of State Marco Rubio approved an additional waiver for “life-saving humanitarian assistance during the period of the review.” His waiver directs any organizations undertaking essential humanitarian aid programs to “continue or resume work if they have stopped.” Essential aid is defined in the waiver as “core life-saving medicine, medical services, food, shelter, and subsistence assistance, as well as supplies and reasonable administrative costs as necessary to necessary to deliver such assistance.” It is clarified that “non-life saving assistance” does not fall within the scope of the wavier, including access to family planning, abortions, gender-affirming care, and diversity and inclusion programs.

Trump’s actions in relation to foreign aid and his withdrawal of international organization memberships such as the World Health Organization and the UN Human Rights Council have drawn concern regarding human rights.