Children in Emergency Child Protection Programs at Direct Risk of Harm Due to Global Aid Cuts

LONDON/GENEVA, (March 25, 2025) – More than 7,100 children in emergency child protection programs run by Save the Children will lose access to services shielding them from family violence, child marriage or other trauma due to aid cuts if new funding is not found, said Save the Children.^[1]

Save the Children and its partners run emergency programs to protect children at high risk of child marriage, so-called honor killings, and other family violence, as well as protecting children with suicidal ideation after surviving sexual violence, child recruitment or other trauma. Many of these children are unaccompanied without family support.

These services are a way to provide protection to children at high risk of harm, mirror social work provided by some governments in non-emergency settings, and ensure quality, consistency, and coordination of services to support and protect particularly vulnerable children.  

In the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh, Save the Children runs a lifesaving child protection program with children who have lost their parents, with an informal care system established to support about 100 children in family-based care. This system is now at risk of collapse, with some 28 children at risk of losing all forms of care entirely because of the aid cuts.  

In Peru, Save the Children has been providing child protection through a local partner, Paz y Esperanza, to 24 children assessed as at high or medium risk of significant harm, as well as 16 women and girls who have experienced gender-based violence.  

With these services now at risk, these adolescents and women - who have separated or are in the process of separating from their aggressor and require continued protection - may no longer have that protection in the coming months.  

One of the girls being supported in Peru had previously escaped a violent and abusive father. Her father at one time kidnapped her, and on another occasion, he tried to kill her mother. If the girl is released from the program due to the aid cuts, she will be put at extreme risk, with severe psychological consequences for both her and her mother, said Save the Children. 

In Cambodia, the global aid cuts have put up to 310 children and youths in emergency case management at direct risk of hunger, re-traumatization and possible homelessness, including 36 children with disabilities and 80 children who were being supported in kinship care and foster care. These children – many of whom have already experienced violence, sexual abuse and separation from their families – were being supported with food, healthcare, education, counselling and legal support before the cuts.  Now, with this funding at risk, these children face dangers, including exploitation, violence, and being forced into child labor.   

Katharine Williamson, Save the Children's Head of Humanitarian Child Protection, said:  

"The impact of these rapid cuts on children and their families is severe and, in some cases, will be life-threatening.  

"This horrific situation is just the tip of the iceberg. Without immediate assurances of aid coming through to child protection programs, children who have lived through some of the most difficult experiences in humanitarian crises may never be supported to recover.  

"For some high-risk cases, an immediate stop in services will result in serious, irreversible harm such as leaving unaccompanied children without care, detained children without protection and legal support, and leaving girls exposed to child marriage or sexual exploitation.  In the worst case, children are at risk of death, such as children with suicidal ideation or children at risk of being killed, including through honour killings. 

"Child protection programmes can dramatically reduce the impact of violence on a child's life. Strong child protection programmes help boys and girls living with war and displacement to learn, develop and thrive. It's unconscionable that these programs may be allowed to stop."  

Save the Children is a global leader in providing child protection in emergencies. In addition to responding to children's most basic needs during emergencies, Save the Children recognizes that all children are particularly vulnerable to a range of risks like separation from family, recruitment into armed forces, sexual exploitation and gender-based violence, physical harm and psychosocial distress. From the start, we promote child protection in emergencies and engage with families, communities, donors and governments to ensure that the most vulnerable children are not forgotten in the chaos. Our programs identify children's needs, advocate for their safety, and provide physical and mental health support, particularly to children who are displaced and alone. 

NOTES:  
•   [1] Save the Children defines the most critical protection activities as those that work with individual children who have experienced or are at risk of serious harm.  These are children who are usually reached through child protection case management programs and are evaluated to be high or medium risk.