At least 1 million women have lost access to humanitarian and other critical support as a result of budget cuts over the last 18 months, the U.N. agency focusing on women said Friday.
UN Women says 84% of women’s organizations surveyed had reported increased needs since January 2025, when the Trump administration in the United States — the biggest U.N. donor — took office and began cutbacks in foreign aid.
“Every dollar withdrawn from women’s organizations is a dollar withdrawn from survivors of conflict-related sexual violence, displaced mothers, girls forced from school and communities struggling to survive,” said Sofia Calltorp, UN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.
Nearly 90% of the women’s groups surveyed said they can’t meet current levels of need anymore, and one in five said they expect to shut down temporarily or permanently within the next year.
“UN Women has spoken to 855 women’s organizations 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 organizations,” Calltorp told reporters in Geneva.
