UN Women says 1 million lost aid as donor cuts hit crisis support

Geneva,UPDATED: Jul 10, 2026 15:56 IST

At least 1 million women and girls have lost access to humanitarian and other critical support over the last 18 months because of budget cuts, UN Women said on Friday. The agency said women’s organisations are facing rising demand even as funding falls, leaving many unable to continue services.

UN Women said 84 per cent of the women’s organisations it surveyed had reported increased needs since January 2025, when the Trump administration in the United States, the biggest UN donor, took office and began cutting foreign aid. Nearly 90 per cent of the groups said they could no longer meet current levels of need, while one in five said they expected to shut down temporarily or permanently within the next year.

“Every dollar withdrawn from women’s organisations is a dollar withdrawn from survivors of conflict-related sexual violence, displaced mothers, girls forced from school and communities struggling to survive,” said Sofia Calltorp, UN Women’s chief of humanitarian action.

Calltorp told reporters in Geneva that UN Women had spoken to 855 women’s organisations in 52 countries, which said women and girls had been turned away because funding cuts were weakening their operations. “UN Women has spoken to 855 women’s organisations working in 52 countries, who have told us that these women and girls have been turned away due to funding cuts that are dismantling their organisations,” she said. “We know that this number, at least 1 million women and girls, is just the tip of the iceberg,” she added.

UN Women said conflict-related sexual violence had doubled last year. It also referred to a recent report by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, which found that development assistance fell by nearly a quarter last year to USD 174 billion, the biggest yearly contraction on record.

“Without immediate action, the organisations that have kept women and girls alive through the world’s worst crises risk becoming another casualty of war,” Calltorp said. Many UN organisations have cut thousands of jobs and reduced aid programmes worldwide over the last 18 months after funding cuts by the United States and other major donors. As part of a reform process known as UN80, the UN is also considering the possibility of merging UN Women with UNFPA, its sexual and reproductive health agency.

In sum, UN Women said funding cuts have already left at least 1 million women and girls without support, while many organisations helping them are struggling to survive.

With PTI Inputs

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