The UN warns that more than 60 million displaced women and girls are at risk of gender violence in the world

MADRID Nov. 30 () –

The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has warned this Friday that there are more than 60 million women around the world who, in addition to being forcibly displaced or stateless, are exposed to “high risks.” of gender violence, which is 50 percent more than the previous year.

However, despite the “surprising” increase in cases of sexual violence in conflict contexts, funding for vital services to support victims continues to be – the agency denounces – “unfortunately scarce.”

“In many remote areas, humanitarian access is cut off or resources and assistance are scarce. Access to justice also remains limited and survivors fear reprisals and social marginalization,” lamented UNHCR spokesperson Shabia Mantoo in statements to the press.

Mantoo has highlighted that around 90 percent of refugee and migrant women who travel along the routes to the Mediterranean are victims of rape.

Likewise, it has pointed out the “precariousness” in which those women who flee their places of origin to neighboring countries remain, due not only to “the additional risks of gender violence that they may face during their displacement”, but also to “the delays in access to services that may be limited.

The UNHCR representative has cited the cases of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Chad and Afghanistan as some of the countries where the testimonies of women who have suffered “violence, torture, sexual exploitation, sexual violence and other horrors have increased the most. (being used) even as a weapon of war,” according to agency workers deployed in conflict zones.

In the DRC, “the bodies of women and girls have become an extension of the battlefield amidst cyclical violence and increasing insecurity”; in Chad, “some women have reported being raped while fleeing the conflict in Sudan” and, in Afghanistan, “increasing restrictions, high rates of domestic violence and the overall worsening economic situation are contributing to a mental health crisis.” and an increase in the number of patients seeking help,” illustrated Mantoo.

The agency has noted that, currently, year-round gender violence programs “for six major regional refugee response plans” are only 28 percent funded and has expressed fears that it will not be able to deliver. critical services” next year due to lack of “adequate funding.

Thus, UNHCR has demanded “early and effective prevention and response measures” for affected women and girls, claiming that they “save and change lives”, and has insisted that “(current) funding falls far short of meeting needs.” .