The UN has raised alarm over worsening conditions for women and girls in the Sahel, where political turmoil, climate shocks, and extremist violence are stripping them of safety, education, and basic rights.
UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous told the Security Council on Thursday that the risks are “severe and systemic,” citing soaring abductions, rampant child marriage, school closures, and tight restrictions under extremist rule in countries such as Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso, and Mali.
In Burkina Faso, the number of women and girls abducted has more than doubled in 18 months. In Mali, 90 per cent of women have undergone female genital mutilation, while maternal mortality rates remain among the highest in the world.
Bahous warned that humanitarian aid is drying up—only 8% of this year’s appeal has been met—while development assistance has fallen 20% in two years, forcing the shutdown of gender equality programmes.
Leonardo Santos Simão, head of the UN Office for West Africa and the Sahel, echoed the warning, saying that rising jihadist attacks, shrinking civic space, and political instability are eroding hard-won progress and fuelling displacement.
“The women of the Sahel must not be abandoned,” Bahous said. “They have the power to shape a better future—if given the chance.”