As of March, U.S. aid cuts forced the shutdown of dozens of safe spaces for women and girls across Yemen that provided support related to gender-based violence. Without restoration of funds, dozens of related health facilities and reproductive health and protection clinics also planned to shut down, denying hundreds of thousands of women and girls, including survivors of gender-based violence, access to life-saving health care, psychosocial support and legal aid.

Date: 5/25

Region: Middle East & North Africa

Country: Yemen

Topic: Health, Gender Equality & Inclusion

Policy Lens: Moral Leadership

Additional Context: Women and girls across Yemen have long faced systemic discrimination and gender-based violence. Yemen has no legal minimum age of marriage, and almost one third of women are married before the age of 18. Child marriage is associated with a lifetime of human rights harms. In March, Amnesty International interviewed 10 humanitarian experts and aid workers with direct knowledge of the situation on the ground in Yemen, and six representatives of local human rights organizations, five of which provide direct services to populations already in vulnerable situations, all of whom said the impact of the cuts will be devastating, leading to suffering, death and more instability for an already fragile country.

This information can be found in Amnesty International's report "Lives at Risk: Chaotic and Abrupt Cuts to Foreign Aid Put Millions of Lives at Risk." The analysis is principally based on public documents, including court filings and executive orders, news and civil society reports, and legal frameworks carried out between January and May 2025. The authors also conducted 43 interviews, and integrated ongoing communication with NGOs, international organizations, public health specialists, and aid workers.

Source: Amnesty International