Britain’s global leadership on women’s rights is being undermined by deep cuts to overseas aid, MPs and campaigners have warned, as the government faces accusations of substituting rhetoric for tangible support for women and girls caught in conflict zones.
The International Development Committee (IDC), a cross-party group of MPs, concluded in a report published in March that successive reductions to official development assistance were already weakening programmes that protect women and girls in conflict-affected countries. The committee warned that Britain risked standing by while “hard-won gains” in gender equality were reversed, as rising global conflict and a growing backlash against women’s rights gathered pace. The cuts have seen funding for women’s rights organisations slashed by as much as two-thirds, according to campaigners. Research by CARE International UK found that UK aid spending on gender equality had fallen sharply, with funding to women’s rights organisations dropping by 66 per cent from its peak in 2017.
The most immediate pressure stems from reductions to official development assistance (ODA), which was cut from 0.7 per cent of national income to 0.5 per cent in recent years, before the prime minister announced late last year that it would fall further to 0.3 per cent. The IDC report warned that reductions in funding, staffing and specialist expertise within the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) threatened Britain’s ability to deliver on commitments made under the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda — a framework designed to increase women’s participation in peacebuilding and protect them from violence during conflict. The committee specifically recommended that the FCDO maintain development and gender expertise, including dedicated gender advisers.
Zoe Swanwick, policy manager at the Coalition for Global Prosperity, said the government’s response to the IDC report amounted to “words over action”. She said: “Baroness Chapman and foreign secretary Yvette Cooper have repeatedly claimed their support for the women, peace and security agenda, but the recent cuts to the aid budget which disproportionately affect women suggest otherwise.” Swanwick added that programmes tackling violence against women and girls, supporting maternal healthcare, safeguarding reproductive rights and keeping girls in education were already closing around the world, with direct consequences for women’s safety, health and economic independence. “How can women be at the table on peace and security when their own rights are being systematically violated? Either drop the rhetoric or show real support,” she said.
Government defends its record
Ministers rejected the committee’s criticism that Britain was losing its leadership role and insisted the government’s commitment to the WPS agenda remained “unwavering”. In its long-awaited response, published in late May, the government pointed to diplomatic efforts at the United Nations, support for women peacebuilders and a plan to ensure that 90 per cent of bilateral aid programmes include a focus on women and girls by 2030. Officials said women and girls remained “at the heart” of UK foreign policy and highlighted efforts to protect language on women’s rights in UN Security Council resolutions relating to Libya, Afghanistan, South Sudan and Somalia.
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper has made women and girls a standalone priority for UK foreign policy, a position the government argues is reflected in the UK’s fifth National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security, which runs from 2023 to 2027 and integrates UN Security Council Resolution 1325 into the government’s foreign, development, defence and security work. The government also stressed that central funding for WPS, preventing violence against women and girls, and the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative had been protected at existing 2025/2026 levels. A spokesperson for the FCDO said: “As the foreign secretary has made clear, there cannot be peace, security or prosperity without women playing their part, free from violence and free from fear.”
However, ministers stopped short of backing calls for ring-fenced funding, dedicated budgets or stronger parliamentary oversight. The IDC had urged the government to commit to stable, multi-year funding for women’s rights organisations, a cross-government monitoring framework and the reinstatement of annual reporting to parliament on delivery of the National Action Plan. The government’s answer on most of these was “partially agree”, with a promise to review commitments as part of a national action plan refresh due later this year. The government argued that “mainstreaming” women’s rights across all foreign policy work would deliver greater impact than relying on standalone programmes, but made no attempt to account for bilateral programmes that sit outside the protected pot and are being cut regardless.
Campaigners said the government response failed to address the central concern raised by MPs: that commitments are becoming increasingly difficult to deliver as resources shrink. The UK’s role as penholder for WPS at the UN Security Council has also come under scrutiny. Despite holding that position, the UK did not convene a dedicated WPS session during its presidency of the Security Council in February 2026, raising questions about its ability to facilitate high-level discussions on the agenda.
Impact on women and girls in conflict zones
The consequences of the cuts are most acute in the places the programmes were designed to reach. In eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where rape has long been used as a weapon of war, conflict-related sexual violence is rising while support for survivors is collapsing. Human Rights Watch and the Congolese women’s rights organisation SOFEPADI warned in January that expanded fighting in North and South Kivu had coincided with funding cuts and shrinking health services, leaving many women unable to access treatment. Some clinics that had been providing care to survivors have already been forced to close.
The FCDO’s own multi-year equality impact assessment, published in March, acknowledged that equalities-targeted programmes in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Tanzania may close as a direct result of the cuts. Globally, the United Nations has reported an 87 per cent increase in conflict-related sexual violence between 2022 and 2024, underscoring the urgency of the situation. Tim Morris, a former British ambassador to both the DRC and South Sudan, said women were often the people holding communities together during conflict. He said: “In all these conflicts, sexual violence has been used as a weapon of war by many of the parties, as has the abuse of children, including their recruitment as child soldiers. Peace agreements, when they eventually come, must be supported by women, who are the fabric of society, often the breadwinners, and those who can set future generations along the road to peace. It is an inescapable responsibility of the international community both to call out this evil and support the rebuilding of those shattered societies.”
Tim Morris, a former British ambassador to both the DRC and South Sudan, said women were often the people holding communities together during conflict. He told The Independent: “In all these conflicts, sexual violence has been used as a weapon of war by many of the parties, as has the abuse of children, including their recruitment as child soldiers. Peace agreements, when they eventually come, must be supported by women, who are the fabric of society, often the breadwinners, and those who can set future generations along the road to peace. It is an inescapable responsibility of the international community both to call out this evil and support the rebuilding of those shattered societies.”