In Africa's Sahel region, deepening violence and poverty - driven by displacement, hunger and terrorism - are stripping women and girls of their right to safety, education and a viable future.
Risks to women and girls across this vast region are severe and systemic, as political instability, environmental collapse and a declining international presence take their toll.
From abductions and child marriage to exclusion from schools and public life, their lives and opportunities are being steadily stripped away, Sima Bahous, Executive Director of UN Women , told ambassadors in the Security Council on Thursday.
"In the Sahel, where the world's gravest concerns converge, women and girls bear the brunt," she said.
She added that crises due to increasing terrorism, poverty, hunger, a crumbling aid system and shrinking civic space are "converging - violently and disproportionately - on their bodies and their futures."
Life is being erased
In countries like Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and Chad, life for women under extremist control "is one of erasure from public space," Ms. Bahous said.
Their movement, visibility and even clothing are heavily restricted. Schools have been burned or shut down, leaving more than one million girls without access to education.
"Abduction is not a by-product of terrorism in the Sahel - it is a tactic," Ms. Bahous said, noting that in Burkina Faso alone, the number of women and girls abducted has more than doubled over the past 18 months.
In Mali, 90 percent of women are affected by female genital mutilation. Rates of child marriage in parts of the region are among the highest in the world. Maternal mortality - driven by early pregnancy and poverty - is among the world's worst.
Dwindling resilience and attention
"The distances women and girls travel for water or firewood are growing longer, while their safety is shrinking," Ms. Bahous said.
Two-thirds of women surveyed report feeling unsafe during these journeys. Climate change only deepens the hardship, with extreme heat and drought increasing both mortality and food insecurity across the region.
Yet despite mounting needs, international support is waning.
Only eight per cent of this year's humanitarian appeal for the region had been met by May.
Development assistance has fallen nearly 20 per cent over the past two years. As a result, women's protection and empowerment programmes have been suspended, while government ministries focused on gender equality are being defunded, merged or closed.
Political space closing
At the same time, democratic and civic space is narrowing.
In Niger, only 14 percent of participants in recent institutional reforms were women. In Mali, just two out of 36 members drafting the new national charter were women.
Leonardo Santos Simão, head of the UN Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS), also warned that a deteriorating security environment - marked by waves of jihadist attacks and political turbulence - is undermining progress and fuelling displacement.
