Retreating When the World Needs Leadership: Why U.S. Withdrawal from Global Mechanisms Undermines Sexual Violence Prevention

by Amber Schroeder, ATSA Executive Director 

On January 7, 2026, President Donald Trump issued an Executive Order directing the United States to withdraw from 66 international organizations, including multiple United Nations bodies and affiliated entities tied to population health, violence against children, and sexual violence in conflict. The administration framed the move as necessary to exit organizations it considers wasteful, ineffective, or contrary to U.S. interests.

These removals build on earlier U.S. actions in 2025 to withdraw from and end funding to international bodies, including the World Health Organization, as part of a broader review of U.S. participation in multilateral institutions.

This is more than a diplomatic shift. It is a retreat from the infrastructure that supports global sexual violence prevention and response. The evidence is clear: sexual violence remains a persistent global crisis, and prevention requires multilateral cooperation. ATSA’s position is firm: the solutions to sexual violence lie in international collaboration. That includes the full continuum of prevention—strengthening protective environments, supporting survivors, and advancing perpetration prevention through evidence-based strategies that reduce risk, interrupt pathways to harm, and prevent first-time abuse.

The Data Is Stark—and Progress Is Too Slow

The World Health Organization’s latest global estimates describe a reality we cannot normalize:

• Nearly one in three women worldwide—an estimated 840 million—have experienced physical and/or sexual violence in their lifetime.
• In the past 12 months alone, 316 million women experienced physical or sexual violence by an intimate partner—about one in nine women globally.
• Violence begins early: in the past year, 12.5 million adolescent girls (ages 15–19) experienced physical and/or sexual violence by an intimate partner.

These figures reflect a pattern of harm that persists across every region, culture, and income level. WHO notes that the global prevalence of violence has barely improved in more than two decades. Sexual violence is a public health and human rights emergency with lasting impacts on health, safety, stability, and economic wellbeing.

Why Withdrawal Weakens Prevention

International institutions focused on public health, human rights, and gender-based violence are not symbolic. They help build prevention and response capacity—especially in fragile settings—by supporting:

• consistent global monitoring and data standards
• cross-national evidence-sharing and research coordination
• prevention frameworks and technical assistance
• coordinated protection and survivor support in conflict and displacement settings

Prevention is not the work of any single sector or country. It requires coordinated systems—public health, education, justice, mental health, and community services—grounded in reliable data and sustained investment.

Prevention also requires perpetration-focused strategies. Effective prevention is not limited to responding after harm occurs; it includes evidence-based approaches that reduce the likelihood of perpetration, strengthen protective factors, and ensure people at risk of causing harm have access to intervention pathways before abuse occurs. That work improves through shared research, international learning, and aligned standards.

When the United States withdraws from multilateral systems, it weakens shared capacity to prevent harm, support survivors, and sustain accountability. It also signals that global prevention efforts are optional—despite the scale and persistence of the crisis.

Leadership Is Participation, Not Absence

Isolationism may be politically convenient, but it is incompatible with what the prevention field has long recognized: sexual violence is preventable, and prevention advances through collective responsibility and shared knowledge. The United States has historically supported progress through partnership, investment, and expertise. Retreating from that role weakens global capacity at a moment when evidence shows the crisis remains widespread and progress is slow.

A Call for Evidence-Led Engagement

If the United States wants to lead on preventing sexual violence, the path forward is clear: strengthen international cooperation rather than dismantle it; invest in shared research and evidence-sharing; support coordinated protection systems in crisis contexts; and align policy decisions with what prevention science shows is effective.

ATSA firmly believes the solutions to sexual violence lie in international collaboration. Nations do not reduce violence by standing alone. They reduce violence by showing up—committing to shared evidence, shared responsibility, and shared strategies that prevent harm, support survivors, and reduce perpetration through effective intervention and accountability.

The Executive Order issued last week moves away from that foundation. Survivors deserve better. Prevention requires better.

References

• Associated Press. (2026, January 7). U.S. will exit 66 international organizations as it further retreats from global cooperation.
• Reuters. (2026, January 7). Trump withdraws U.S. from dozens of international and U.N. entities.
• The White House. (2026, January 7). Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Withdraws the United States from International Organizations that Are Contrary to the Interests of the United States.
• The White House. (2025, February). Withdrawing the United States from and ending funding to certain United Nations organizations and reviewing United States support to all international organizations.
• World Health Organization. (2025, November 19). Lifetime toll: 840 million women faced partner or sexual violence.
• The BMJ. (2025, November). Nearly a billion women face domestic or sexual violence, WHO and UN suggest.