The European Union awards an additional €14.8 million in Aid to UNICEF to support the most vulnerable children and strengthen disaster preparedness in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2025
EU funding will support UNICEF operations, including regional programmes aimed at assisting approximately 700,000 people, including 343,000 children, affected by armed violence and extreme climate events, across 15 countries in the region
Panama City, Panama. 3 July 2025.- Latin America and the Caribbean continue to face overlapping crises, including a sharp rise in armed violence, forced displacement and disasters.
In response to the persistent needs of migrant children and those affected by natural hazards, the European Union, through its Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations department, awarded an additional €14.8 million (over USD$ 17 million) to support UNICEF’s efforts to provide relief to the most vulnerable migrant, stateless and refugee children, and strengthen disaster preparedness in priority countries in 2025.
For 2025, UNICEF estimates 4.7 million children will require humanitarian assistance due to mixed migration flows and armed violence. In addition, the Caribbean remains among the most disaster-prone regions in the world, where half a million children are exposed every year.
“Every crisis is interconnected. Extreme climate events lead to multiple adverse impacts on children's wellbeing, including poor health and nutrition, while armed violence force families to flee their homes and weaken delivery of essential services,” said Roberto Benes, UNICEF Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean. “In this challenging context, exacerbated by a drastic reduction in international funding, UNICEF is deeply grateful to EU Humanitarian Aid for its ongoing commitment to children in the region. It is through such a partnership that UNICEF is able to address the needs of vulnerable children and families in the most challenging situations.”
“The EU maintains its steadfast, unwavering support to UNICEF's vital work in the region, addressing pressing challenges in health, education, and child protection, and safeguarding children's futures through improved healthcare, quality education, and robust protective measures – these challenges are not going away, and remain a priority for Europe," said Daniela D’Urso, who heads the EU’s humanitarian assistance in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Since 2024, the EU’s regional contributions have enabled UNICEF to strengthen critical humanitarian response in child protection, gender-based violence and education for 122,000 refugee, stateless and migrant people, including 62,000 children, across Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, the Dominican Republic, Peru and Trinidad and Tobago.
In Central America, EU Humanitarian Aid supports UNICEF to strengthen the resilience of protection and education services for over 162,000 people, including 87,000 children and adolescents in Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Panama.
In the Caribbean, with the European Union’s support, UNICEF continues to enhance the shock-responsiveness of education, child protection and social protection systems to strengthen disaster preparedness in vulnerable communities and to reach over 409,000 people, including 194,000 children, in Belize, Cuba, Jamaica, and Grenada, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
Additionally, EU funding supported additional national projects throughout the region.
UNICEF and the European Union continue working together to protect and promote children’s rights in Latin America and the Caribbean while delivering life-saving programs for the most vulnerable
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UNICEF promotes the rights and wellbeing of every child, in everything we do. Together with our partners, we work in 190 countries and territories to translate that commitment into practical action, focusing special effort on reaching the most vulnerable and excluded children, to the benefit of all children, everywhere.
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About EU Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid
The European Union and its Member States are among the world's leading donors of humanitarian aid. Relief assistance is an expression of European solidarity with people in need all around the world. It aims to save lives, prevent and alleviate human suffering, and safeguard the integrity and human dignity of populations affected by disasters and human-induced crises. Through the Directorate General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations of the European Commission, the European Union helps millions of victims of conflict and disasters every year. With headquarters in Brussels and a global network of field offices, the EU provides assistance to the most vulnerable people on the basis of humanitarian needs.
