Since January 2025, at least one million women and girls have been deprived of essential humanitarian aid as deep cuts in foreign assistance have led to the demise of the local institutions serving them, U.N. Women reports in “Beyond the Breaking Point.” The study, based on responses by 855 women who run women’s rights organizations in 52 crisis- and conflict-stricken countries, ranging from Afghanistan, Sudan, Yemen, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Haiti, revealed that four out of 10 institutions intend to close down either temporarily or permanently within the year. The decline is taking place amid the highest number of armed conflicts in eight decades, while at least 120 million women and girls need humanitarian aid around the world.

“The women’s organizations at risk of being shut down are on the frontlines of the world’s most severe humanitarian crises,” said Sofia Calltorp, U.N. Women’s Chief of Humanitarian Action. “In countries including Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Haiti, they operate where international actors cannot and stay long after global attention has moved on. Every dollar withdrawn from women’s organizations is a dollar withdrawn from survivors of conflict-related sexual violence, displaced mothers, girls forced from school, and communities struggling to survive.” The survey showed that 84 percent of these organizations saw a rise in demand for their services since the beginning of 2025, while close to nine out of 10 indicated that they were no longer able to cope with the present level of need. Almost half had instituted waiting lists or stopped accepting clients, and 65 percent mentioned unpaid work among their staff. 86 percent have reported an increase in gender-based violence in the communities they serve, and 62 percent have indicated reductions or closures of safe spaces. Conflict-related sexual violence doubled in 2025, but so did the collapse of the system protecting survivors.

These results reveal a discrepancy between the international system’s discourse on locally led humanitarian response and its funding. The discourse around women-led organizations portrays them as “first responders,” owing to their intimate connections with the communities they serve and their ability to access areas that international organizations cannot access. However, they are among the first organizations to lose their funding during budget cutbacks and are the most vulnerable. It is a counterproductive effort, as cutting funding for the organizations that are most capable of preventing gender-based violence, keeping girls in schools, and maintaining safe spaces will not lessen the humanitarian need, but rather transfer costs to the most vulnerable. Over two-thirds of the organizations surveyed have already cut back services in remote locations, which implies that the women who have the fewest alternatives are the last to receive help.

The report builds on the U.N. Women’s analysis of the early impacts of the funding cuts made in 2025. According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, development aid declined by almost a quarter in 2025, to approximately 174 billion U.S. dollars, the biggest reduction ever recorded. The cuts were made during an era of increased conflict, rather than decreased demands for help. The idea that women should be involved in humanitarian efforts has been around for a while now: it was established in U.N. Security Council Resolution 1325 and signed in October 2000, acknowledging the special effect of war on women and girls and their involvement in peacekeeping. However, 26 years later, the systems meant to fulfill this idea are deteriorating more quickly than they can be rebuilt.

U.N. Women is calling for a long-term commitment to invest in women’s organizations, which are described as the essential front-line responders and bedrock of protection, recovery, and peace. This month is an important time for action in this area with the annual Security Council debate on conflict-related sexual violence, themed this year by the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s July presidency: “Honoring the promise of international law to survivors of conflict-related sexual violence.” The debate is expected to be chaired by the DRC Prime Minister Judith Suminwa Tuluka, and the list of potential briefers includes Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict Pramila Patten. Whether that attention translates into funding will determine what happens next for the women running shelters without salaries, the girls leaving school, and the survivors arriving at doors that have closed. “Without immediate action,” Calltorp said, “the organizations that have kept women and girls alive through the world’s worst crises risk becoming another casualty of war.”