Holding the Line has joined over 1,200 feminist organisations and activists in signing a joint statement raising alarm over the growing financial crisis facing the United Nations and its devastating consequences for gender equality, human rights, and multilateral cooperation.
At a time of escalating anti-rights backlash, shrinking civic space, increasing militarisation, and accelerating climate crisis, the weakening of international cooperation and funding structures will disproportionately impact feminist movements, grassroots organisations, and communities already facing systemic injustice.
The statement highlights how funding cuts and political attacks on multilateralism are not neutral budget decisions. They are deeply political. Across the UNECE region and beyond, we are witnessing growing hostility towards gender equality, sexual and reproductive health and rights, anti-racist work, and civil society itself. Feminist organisations are already experiencing severe financial pressure, while demands for movement support continue to increase.
Why does it matter?
Shrinking funding spaces are also becoming a structural enabler for anti-rights and anti-gender actors, weakening the ability of progressive movements to organise, respond, and build long-term resistance.
We signed this statement because feminist movements cannot be expected to “hold the line” without resources, protection, and sustained political commitment. Defending democracy, human rights, gender justice, and climate justice requires collective investment — not austerity, abandonment, or selective solidarity.