Tens of millions of women and girls are subjected to gender-based violence (GBV) worldwide, yet the services intended to support and protect them are dwindling. Chronic underfunding has long plagued the GBV response, but in 2025, the crisis has now reached a tipping point. As violence in conflict zones continues to escalate and natural disasters have displaced millions, the need for lifesaving GBV support is significantly increasing. Against this background, aid budget cuts are triggering the collapse of essential services, leaving millions of women and girls facing gender violence without appropriate shelter, healthcare or justice.
In 2022, donors allocated just 0.2% of global aid to GBV responses. According to data from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, GBV prevention initiatives accounted for less than 1% of all humanitarian assistance worldwide. Yet, in conflict-affected areas, nearly 70% of women experience violence, almost double the rate outside of crisis zones.
Since 2021, demand for GBV support has surged by 40%, while available funding has increased by less than 5%. The system had already reached breaking point before the wave of brutal cuts and abrupt donor withdrawals in the first half of 2025. As a result, over 60 million women and girls worldwide are currently at risk of GBV and without urgent and sufficient funding, 36 million may be denied access to support by the end of this year.
2025 cuts: A devastating blow to women’s safety
Full-scale GBV services require an estimated US$1.04 billion globally in 2025, with only 7.6% being covered so far. Given the unprecedented aid cuts announced by donors, funding now remains far beyond reach.
In early 2025, the United States abruptly withdrew US$377 million in aid grants to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) which was the largest global channel for women’s health support. UNFPA’s Executive Director, Reem Al-Salem, warned that this would force thousands of health clinics to shut down and deny countless rape survivors access to trauma counseling, medical care, and safe spaces.
These funds were initially earmarked for maternal health and GBV services in crisis zones, including Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Haiti, and Syria and the loss the financial aid has left massive operational gaps, many of which will be impossible to fill.
Essential services are disappearing
The human cost of these funding cuts is alarmingly visible in regions that have already been crippled by conflict, displacement, and poverty. Cases of rape and child marriage are rising as families struggle to survive, and even as needs escalate, GBV service infrastructures are collapsing under financial pressure.
- In war-stricken Yemen, 22 safe spaces have shut down, removing facilities for 11,000 women and girls.
- In Jordan, 63 humanitarian programs offering women protection and legal aid have ceased operations, leaving an estimated 200,000 women and children without these essential services.
- In South Sudan, 75% of UNHCR-run ‘spaces’ for women and girls – safe rooms, health centres, and support hubs – have closed. As a result, up to 80,000 survivors of rape and abuse are now without care or legal recourse.
- In Nigeria, by February 2025, donors had secured only US$1 million of the US$15.1 million needed to provide sexual and reproductive health and GBV services to displaced and disaster-affected communities.
- In South Africa, severe budget cuts have led to the retrenchment of 35 staff across eight GBV clinics that had offered psychosocial support, trauma counseling, medical referrals, and legal guidance to survivors of sexual violence.
- In Cameroon, the withdrawal of USAID funding will lead to the elimination of 21 midwifery positions across 11 health zones, jeopardizing not only access to care for survivors of rape but also increasing neonatal mortality risks amid a US$5.8 million funding gap.
- The DRC has seen major protection programs shutting down. In April, 127 rape survivors failed to receive post-exposure prophylaxis kits within the recommended 72-hour window at just one hospital. Without additional support, 250,000 children could lose access to GBV services.
- Across Central and West Africa, violence prevention initiatives have shut their doors in Burkina Faso, Chad, Cameroon, Mali, and Nigeria, leaving entire communities without any form of protection or support.
A crisis with long-term consequences
The 2025 GBV funding crisis is a brutal reminder of how fragile protection systems actually are and how quickly they collapse under financial strain. Without immediate funding replenishment and meaningful political will, global promises to end gender-based violence will remain just that, merely promises.
Experts caution that continued disinvestment will worsen the crisis for years to come. Reversing the 2025 cuts, while essential, will no longer be sufficient. Countries must implement long-term, systemic solutions to sustain protection services and uphold human dignity. Every budget cut leaves another woman or girl at risk of violence, exploitation, or even death.
