Sharp funding cuts force 1 in 3 organizations to stop programs to combat violence against women

According to a new report from the Commission, more than a third of the 428 women’s rights and civil society organizations surveyed globally – have suspended or stopped programs to end violence against women and girls, while more than 40% have reduced or closed life-saving services, such as shelters, legal aid, psychosocial support and health care, due to direct funding gaps.

In addition, 78% of organizations surveyed reported reduced access for survivors to basic services, while 59% noted “An increase in impunity and the normalization of violence.”

Calliope Mengiro, Head of the Ending Violence against Women and Girls Section at the Commission, called on governments to increase their funding and make it more flexible. She added: “Women’s rights organizations represent the backbone of progress on violence against women, yet they are pushed to the brink. We cannot allow funding cuts to erase decades of hard-won gains.”

Violence against women and girls remains one of the most widespread human rights violations around the world. It is estimated that 736 million women – nearly one in three – have experienced physical or sexual violence, often at the hands of an intimate partner.

UN Women has previously warned that most women-led organizations in crisis situations face severe funding cuts, with nearly half at risk of closure – a warning now echoed in the findings of the report released on Monday.

UN Women reported that the funding shortfall coincides with a growing backlash against women’s rights in one in four countries around the world. She noted that with organizations losing funding, many of them are forced to focus only on basic services “Instead of long-term advocacy that creates real change.”

The new report comes as the world marks 30 years of the Beijing Platform for Action, a progressive roadmap agreed by governments to achieve gender equality and women’s rights, which had ending violence against women at its core.