An international charity has accused Britain of abandoning children in the world’s most dangerous countries to their fate, with minimal aid spent on their protection.
Only 2.5% of UK aid, £35m, was spent on projects that protect children from violence in 2017, according to research commissioned by World Vision UK.
Somalia – which had one of the highest rates of child recruitment by armed groups in 2017, with 2,127 verified cases – received no humanitarian aid from Britain to combat physical abuse and sexual exploitation of children.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo and Iraq likewise received no dedicated funding.
Child protection is not seen as a priority when donor countries respond to conflict and natural disasters, warned David Westwood, World Vision UK’s director of policy and programmes.
“We are not asking the government to increase its overall aid budget,” he said. “But we are asking it to use that budget more wisely and to prioritise child protection.”
Much of the UK’s aid spending on child safeguarding is focused on a small number of countries. Among the world’s 10 most fragile states, Syria received almost two-thirds of the humanitarian aid spent on ending violence against children in 2016.
“Children elsewhere are abandoned to their fate,” said Westwood. “They must not become the world’s forgotten children in the world’s forgotten countries.”
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