Mexico: UN experts say proposed budget cuts could hurt vital services for women
GENEVA (16 October 2020) – UN human rights experts* today urged Mexico against making further budgetary cuts to programmes dedicated to preventing and supporting women who are victims of violence, as well as maternal, sexual and reproductive health.
“If the budget bill is approved in its current form, significant cuts would be made to policies to end discrimination and violence against women and girls, women’s sexual and reproductive health and to promote indigenous women’s rights,” the experts said.
The 2021 budget bill includes 10 to 20 percent cuts to such programs compared to the 2019 and 2020 budgets. The cuts are even more significant for indigenous women.
A programme to promote equality between indigenous women and men in the context of the economic strengthening of indigenous peoples and communities would suffer cuts of up to 53 percent, and a programme to promote indigenous women’s participation would be eliminated altogether.
“These cuts will worsen the funding crisis that has been affecting services for women in the last few years,” the experts said.