UN Women Warns Funding Cuts Are Undermining Efforts to End Violence Against Women

The UN gender equality agency UN Women has sounded the alarm over deepening funding cuts that are crippling global efforts to combat violence against women and girls.

In a new report titled «At Risk and Underfunded,» the agency revealed that one in three women’s anti-violence programmes has been shut down or suspended due to aid shortfalls. More than 40% of surveyed organisations have scaled back shelters, legal aid, and health services, leaving millions of survivors without essential support.

«Women’s rights organisations are the backbone of progress on violence against women, yet they are being pushed to the brink,» said Kalliopi Mingeirou, head of UN Women’s Ending Violence Against Women and Girls section. «Without sustained investment, violence against women and girls will only rise.»

The report, based on responses from 428 women’s rights and civil society groups, found that nearly 80% reported reduced access to survivor services, while 59% warned of rising impunity and normalisation of violence.

UN Women estimates that 736 Mln women worldwide, nearly one in three, have experienced physical or sexual violence. The agency urged governments and donors to protect and expand funding, warning that financial setbacks could erase decades of hard-won gains as the world marks 30 years since the Beijing Declaration on gender equality.