US State Dept fires 60 contractors in rights and labor bureau

The US State Department has fired at least 60 contractors working for its Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Bureau, according to two U.S. officials and two former officials, the New York Times reported. 

This came after US President Trump signed an executive order to suspend any aid or programs deemed for foreign assistance. 

Among those dismissed included technical contractors and area experts whom senior officials relied on for the day-to-day work of enacting the programs overseas.

The bureau’s programs often focused on developing civil society and democratic practices in countries where the US does not have missions and formal diplomatic ties or nations with tense diplomatic ties, such as China, Iran, Russia and North Korea.

In recent years, the bureau, consisting of about 200 full-time staff employees, received about $150-$200 million of annual budget funding from Congress. 

The bureau has been criticized by some Republican politicians, claiming that democracy-promotion programs often supported specific political parties or groups abroad.

Earlier, hundreds of internal contractors working for the U.S. Agency for International Development were put on unpaid leave after Trump imposed a sweeping freeze on US foreign aid worldwide.

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