A new UN Women report, At risk and underfunded, based on a global survey of 428 women’s rights and civil society groups, reveals that one in three groups have suspended or stopped programs aimed at ending gender-based violence. More than 40 percent have reduced or closed essential services such as shelters, legal aid, psychosocial support, and health care due to an immediate funding gap.
Nearly 80 percent reported reduced access to services for survivors, while 59 percent said impunity and the normalization of violence were increasing. “Women’s rights organizations are the backbone of progress on violence against women, but they are pushed to the brink,” said Kalliopi Mingeirou, head of Ending Violence Against Women and Girls at UN Women. “We cannot allow funding cuts to erase decades of hard-won gains. We call on governments and donors to ring-fence, expand and make funding more flexible. Without sustained investment, violence against women and girls will only increase.”
Violence against women remains one of the most widespread human rights violations in the world. According to UN Women data, around 736 million women – almost one in three – have been victims of physical or sexual violence, most often by an intimate partner. The agency had already warned earlier this year that many women-led organizations in crisis situations were on the verge of closing – a concern now reinforced by At risk and underfunded.
Only five percent of organizations surveyed said they could sustain operations for more than two years, and 85 percent anticipated serious setbacks in laws and protections for women and girls. More than half also expressed serious concern about growing threats against women human rights defenders. The report warns that these financial shortfalls come amid a broader backlash against women’s rights, now evident in one in four countries. As funding dries up, many groups are forced to prioritize emergency services over long-term advocacy that leads to systemic change.
At risk and underfunded comes as the world marks 30 years of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, a historic blueprint for gender equality that puts ending violence against women at its heart.
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