HUMAN WRONGS WATCH

From Afghanistan to Ukraine

The UN agency partners with 150 countries to provide access to a wide range of sexual and reproductive health services.

Its goal is ending unmet needs for family planning, preventable maternal death, gender-based violence and harmful practices, including child marriage and female genital mutilation, by 2030.

“These termination notices include grants for which we had previously received humanitarian waivers, as they were considered lifesaving interventions for the world’s most vulnerable women and girls,” UNFPA said.

The grants funded programmes in countries including Afghanistan, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Mali, Sudan, Syria and its neighbouring countries, as well as Ukraine.

Previous defunding

The current cuts follow other US defunding measures against humanitarian aid organizations since late January, leaving millions in jeopardy, including those benefiting from critical services and supplies provided by UN agencies like UNAIDS and UNFPA.

UNFPA has been defunded several times by multiple other US administrations under the accusation that it supports coercive abortion or forced sterilisation, claims that have been refuted by multiple US administrations, independent investigations, and leaders at UNFPA and the UN more broadly.

“The mandate of UNFPA is in fact the opposite of this allegation – to secure rights and choices for all,” according to the UN agency.

UNFPA relies entirely on the voluntary donations of governments, intergovernmental organizations, foundations, the private sector and individuals.