New York – Sweeping aid cuts are dismantling the very organizations that are critical to ending violence against women and girls. The new UN Women report, At Risk and Underfunded, based on a global survey of 428 women’s rights and civil society organizations, finds that on the back of cuts by governments, more women are at risk of suffering violence with services diminishing and advocacy silenced.
Over a third of organizations surveyed, 34 per cent, have suspended or shut down programmes to end violence against women and girls and more than 40 per cent have scaled back or closed life-saving services such as shelters, legal aid, psychosocial and healthcare support due to immediate funding gaps. 78 per cent reported reduced access to essential services for survivors, while 59 per cent perceived an increase in impunity and normalization of violence. Almost one in four said they had to suspend or completely halt interventions designed to prevent violence before it occurs.
“Women’s rights organizations are the backbone of progress on violence against women, yet they are being pushed to the brink. We cannot allow funding cuts to erase decades of hard-won gains. We call on governments and donors to ringfence, expand, and make funding more flexible. Without sustained investment, violence against women and girls will only rise”, said Kalliopi Mingeirou, Chief of the Ending Violence Against Women and Girls section, UN Women.
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Violence against women and girls remains one of the most widespread human rights violations worldwide. An estimated 736 million women—almost one in three—have experienced physical or sexual violence, most often at the hands of an intimate partner. Earlier this year, UN Women warned that most women-led organizations in crisis settings were facing severe funding cuts, with nearly half at risk of closure—a warning now echoed in the findings of At Risk and Underfunded.
The report’s findings also highlight that only five per cent of organizations anticipate being able to sustain operations for two years or longer. 85 per cent predict severe backsliding in laws and protections for women and girls, and 57 per cent report serious concerns about rising risks for women human rights defenders.
Funding shortfalls are happening alongside a growing backlash against women’s rights in one in four countries. As organizations lose funding, many are forced to focus only on basic services instead of long-term advocacy that drives real change.
At Risk and Underfunded comes as the world marks 30 years since the Beijing declaration and platform for action, a progressive roadmap agreed by Governments to achieve gender equality and women’s rights, that had ending violence against women at its heart.
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