Thousands of displaced people in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico lose access to vital services, protection as donors’ support shrinks

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) has disclosed  that funding cuts are devastating the humanitarian response in northern Central America despite needs persisting.

The NRC made this disclosure in a statement made available to voiceforafricanmigrants.org

According to the statemen : “Many thousands of displaced and violence-affected people in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico have lost access to vital services and protection due to a dramatic scale-back in support by donors which is also reducing the capacity of the humanitarian organisations to provide assistance. It is vital that donors do not turn their backs on this burgeoning humanitarian crisis. 

“Families in northern Central America who have been forced to flee their homes and whose lives have been turned upside down by violence have been almost invisible to much of the international community for years. Aid cuts now risk erasing them completely from global consciousness. In 2026, we fear the plight of people in need in Central America will worsen as international donors neglect deepens,” said Giorgio Lentini, NRC’s country director for North Central America and Mexico.  

“The funding cuts mean many national and international aid organisations are being forced to reduce or even close operations in the region, leaving large gaps in services. This will no doubt mean vulnerable people will go without the support they so desperately need.”   

Countries in the region make up the majority of the lowest funded humanitarian responses in 2025 – with Honduras being the lowest funded globally with just over 10 per cent of the required funding delivered. This follows the extremely low levels of funding witnessed in 2023 and 2024, when the United States (US) delivered the majority of humanitarian funding for the region, and many other large donors were absent. Since aid cuts at the start of the year, funding from the US has now evaporated and other donors including Sweden and Switzerland are also making cuts or even closing their programmes in Central America.  

“The lack of support from international donors has forced NRC to take drastic action in the region. At the end of this year, NRC will end all work in Guatemala and will close in El Salvador next year. We have also been forced to drastically scale down and adapt our work in both Honduras and Mexico,” said Lentini.  

Across the region, NRC provides protection, legal assistance and emergency education to people who have been forced to flee their homes due to widespread violence. In 2024, NRC supported more than 80,000 people across the four countries but will be only able to support a fraction of this number in 2026 and beyond. By the end of 2025 we are forced to reduce our teams and operations by approximately 70 per cent. We are doing all we can to find other avenues of support for people in need of humanitarian assistance. 

Across the region, the humanitarian situation remains dire. Ongoing violence continues to force people to flee from their homes – some displaced within their countries, others forced to seek protection abroad. Meanwhile, disasters and floods are also leaving people in need of urgent support. On top of these challenges, an increasing number of refugees and migrants are left with no option but to remain in dangerous situations in Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico, and it is expected that needs will grow next year, just as a lack of funding is crippling the aid response, and safe pathways to access protection are shrinking. 

In June, the United Nations launched a ‘hyper-prioritised plan’ in response to aid cuts which resulted in the 2.2 million people previously targeted cross Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador being left out of the plan. They now risk going completely unsupported. In 2026, no country in Central America will have a dedicated humanitarian needs and response plan, risking further escalating the neglect.   

“Donors, including development donors and the private sector, must recognise and address the vast needs that are perpetuating across northern Central America and Mexico. It’s vital that they step up so people facing such extreme levels of violence are not abandoned overnight,” added Lentini.