The United Nations Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, has warned that escalating conflicts, militarisation and political instability are intensifying violence against women and girls globally.
She spoke at a high-level meeting marking the fifth anniversary of the Group of Friends for Eliminating Violence against Women and Girls during the 70th Commission on the Status of Women (CSW70) in New York.
Commending international cooperation, Mohammed highlighted the impact of the Spotlight Initiative, a partnership between the United Nations and the European Union, describing it as a major global commitment to tackling gender-based violence.
“The largest commitment to gender-based violence was a few years ago when you came along with half a billion euro to actually force us to take that seriously, so thank you for the Spotlight Initiative. It has continued to grow,” the Deputy Secretary General said.
She also acknowledged the Permanent Missions of Mongolia, Morocco and New Zealand, stressing that global efforts must intensify.
According to her, “everything matters to all of us, violence against women. We’re not there yet. We’re still on the road to ending it.”
Mohammed warned that conflict settings amplify violence against women and girls.
“Conflict violence, political violence, and violence woven through daily life come to us under different names, yet they grow from the same old assumption that women’s lives can be discounted.”
She described the devastating human toll of war.
“It is homes that are torn open. It is schools reduced to rubble, bodies violated, communities displaced, and futures that are cut short,” Mohammed stated.
The Deputy Secretary-General expressed concern over rising militarisation.
She said, “Global military spending has reached over 2.7 trillion dollars in 2024, the highest level ever recorded.”
Mohammed noted militarised systems risk sidelining women’s safety and dignity.
“When public life begins to romanticise militarisation, it becomes easier to sanitise what militarisation does. It maims, it rapes, and it kills.”
Citing the latest António Guterres report, Mohammed said over 4,500 cases of conflict-related sexual violence were verified in 2024.
“The true number is almost certainly far higher because fear, stigma, retaliation and collapsed reporting systems conceal so much of the harm done.”
She referenced crises in Sudan, Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Ukraine and the Gaza Strip.
“Sexual violence continues to be used as a tactic of war and political repression as a heinous tool of torture.”
Mohammed also highlighted risks faced by women defenders, referencing the killing of Iranian feminist activist Yanar Mohammed.
“This agenda has to enter places where power is exercised and decisions are taken.Women and girls cannot keep appearing in the margins of those discussions.It is time to pull the world back from the brink of celebrating war while abandoning women and girls.Today, let’s double down and say no to violence of any type against any woman or girl, ” the UN Deputy Chief said.
Mohammed’s warning underscores that protecting women’s lives and rights is central to global security.
Analysts say that meaningful inclusion of women in peace processes, accountability mechanisms, and policy decisions could dramatically reduce the scale of violence, prevent further loss of life, and ensure that tragedies like the killing of Iranian Feminist Yanar Mohammed are not repeated.