THE Abrupt suspension of the American agency for financing international development (USAID) By the new administration Donald Trump in early 2025, threw a dark shadow on civil society and the geopolitical balance of Mongolia.
The Freeze Aid affects many local players who offered essential services and support for advocacy on sensitive and often neglected social issues for human rights and democracy. While Mongolia has made significant progress since its transition to democracy in 1990, certain social issues remain marginalized due to political or cultural sensitivities. The projects and programs attacking these questions, in particular religious freedom, the trafficking in human beings, freedom of expression and rural civic space, are now in crises.
What does the freeze freeze on a practical level mean? More broadly, what does this mean for the geopolitical balance that Mongolia maintains?
Already silent problems at risk of disappearing
The youth policy surveillance groupA local NGO working on human rights, sex and governance using surveillance and responsibility tools led by young people, launched a project to map the landscape of religious civil society. This initiative aimed to promote peaceful coexistence and collaboration with various religious actors, including traditional Buddhist monasteries, Christian groups and Muslim minorities. The project also planned to strengthen the knowledge and capacities of government employees on religious freedom, to fill critical research and data shortcomings to promote legal and political decisions based on evidence.
THE 2023 International ACN report has highlighted recurring issues on the registration of religious organizations, such as the legal and social obstacles facing the religious minorities of the country. This highlights the importance of the surveillance group initiative, which was 70% complete before being completely interrupted by the USAID freeze.
This leaves an important knowledge lake in promoting religious understanding and coexistence. The director of the youth policy surveillance group, Mandkhaikhatan Tsevegmid, shared:
Jumping into this subject in itself has been a great risk for us, because no one talks about this question in Mongolia. But with the support of the USAID and its partners – the only donation entity sufficiently daring to finance these sensitive problems – we have taken the jump despite social resistance and organizational risks. Now let’s go. It is regrettable because it was the first of the kind in Mongolia and this question could disappear from public discussion.
Trafficking in human beings is another widespread problem that has been seriously affected by the financing stop.
In 2024, the US State Department ranked Mongolia under level 2 In its annual report on trafficking in people, declaring that the country does not fully meet the minimum standards of the elimination of human beings despite significant efforts. This highlights the urgent need for a sustained commitment to supported multiple holders to solve this problem.
THE Sex equality center (GEC) is one of the few, if not the only ones, non -profit organizations in Mongolia focusing on the search for trafficking networks, the support of survivors and the implementation of preventive programs. Given the significant lack of public discussions and social conscience of the trafficking of human beings in Mongolia and given the cross -border nature of the issue, international support was crucial.
However, USAID freeze has ceased all GEC activities, including its two temporary shelters for survivors as well as all legal, psychological and recovery services.
“Without this funding, we cannot work. The victims are left without support and the authors walk freely, “said GEC director Bayasa Geleg.
Another area affected by the freeze on the financing of the USAID is freedom of expression and the strengthening of rural civil society.
In 2023, 77% of the members of the Parliament supported a bill This has introduced new restrictions on public criticism of government representatives. While the president of Mongolia has opposed his veto to the legislation and that the Parliament finally defended the veto, there are increasing concerns among local actors in civil society and the media around freedom of expression and Civic space. In response to these concerns, in 2023, the Asia and IREX Foundation initiated the strengthening of the media and civil society (Macs) Program.
The objective was to allow local media and civil society to strengthen the democratic values of Mongolia and to keep responsible decision -makers. As part of this effort, the Association of alumni of the progressive democracy of leaders (lead) – A local NGO with 247 alumni of the Main Program of the USAID – launched an initiative to strengthen the capacity of rural civil society in human rights, good governance and literacy of media. Given that More than 60% of actors in civil society in Mongolia are concentrated in the capital,, According to research published by the International Center for Nerm-Forproft Law, this program aimed to fill a critical gap by focusing on rural and distant communities.
The MacSS program, which was initially planned as a five -year initiative, is now stopped due to the freeze on the financing of the USAID. The president of the Association of former main, Dolgorsuren Munkhhaatar, shared her concerns: “All our planned proposals and programs in USAID are now pending, and MacSS partners are stuck in bureaucratic limbo. If there are problems with certain programs, why not resolve them directly instead of freezing everything, in particular initiatives that have a real impact with integrity? It looks like we were sentenced without trial. »»
Broader implications
The United States has been a long-standing champion in the construction of democracy and human rights worldwide. Thanks to USAID, it allowed new and emerging democracies such as Mongolia to initiate difficult conversations and to protect human rights. This support was particularly essential to Mongolia, which balances the geopolitical influence of its neighbors, China and Russia, which both have models of governance different from democratic systems. To balance this complex dynamic, Mongolia has an asset “third neighbor“Politics and engages with democratic countries, especially the United States.
Since 1991, the United States has provided 200 million dollars in USAID In Mongolia, supporting democratic development, economic growth and civil society initiatives, the last annual contribution being $ 12 million in 2024 before the current financing freezing. This potential loss of the USAID support could mean more than a simple financing gap, but also the start of the American departure of world leadership in democratic values and the influence of the soft power in East and central Asia. For Mongolia, which is sandwiched between two geopolitics, the open question is: will China or Russia fill this gap? And what does it mean for human rights and democracy in the country and on this side of the world?
When the United States withdraws the support of new and emerging democracies, these countries have no choice but to turn to alternative sources of funding. This trend is not hypothetical – only two weeks after the United States suspended funding for Cambodia’s largest demining organization in early 2025, China intervened with a subsidy of $ 4.4 million. China has also expressed its support for the financing gaps commission due to the USAID freeze Nepal, Colombia and the Cook IslandsExplaining its soft power more in these regions through help programs that often lack transparency and conditionality.
Historically, the Development model of China through the Belt and Road (BRI) initiative, already obvious in most African countries and Southeast Asia, has increasingly hierarchical economic development compared to to standards of democratic responsibility. The large -scale impact of American financing freezing is apparent – these geopolitical consequences could potentially contribute to the distance from the countries of Mongolia and other impacted countries of human rights and democracy in the region.
What Mongolia must then do
The freeze on the financing of the USAID not only threatens specific projects, but also the global civil society of Mongolia and its democratic progress. These organizations serve as a mechanisms of responsibility addressing uncomfortable but essential problems for a healthy democracy.
Mongolia must now prioritize the location and diversification of donors. This freeze freeze must be recognized as a mermaid, which has prompted intentional efforts to diversify sources of funding by engaging with relatively neutral alternative donors such as European Union countries, South Korea and Japan , as well as to cultivate a local culture of philanthropy by associating with the Mongolian private sector and foundations. Political reforms, such as funds allocated to local civil society and more progressive tax incentives for donations and subsidies, are very necessary and must be informed by best practices of comparable countries.
This crisis could be exploited as an opportunity for transformation, but it depends on the ability of Mongolia to listen to all its voices on critical social issues, including those that society finds uncomfortable. If these problems are silenced, it will not only be a loss for marginalized communities. It will also be a loss for democracy that Mongolia obtained proudly and bloodless in 1990 at Sukhbaatar Square.