Introduction
In Central America and Mexico, natural hazards, violence, and displacement have all exacerbated the ongoing humanitarian crisis. The United Nations estimates that about 4.6 million people of the region’s population require humanitarian aid.
In 2024, more than 300,000 crossed the hostile jungle of the Darien Gap, bordering Colombia and Panama. It is one of the most dangerous transit routes in the world, where people on the move face a myriad of perils, including robbery, sexual assault and physical violence.
What are the needs?
According to the United Nations, millions of people across the region suffer from food insecurity and malnutrition, with steadily decreasing coping capacities further exacerbated by El Niño. This includes 2.6 million people in Guatemala, 1.2 million in Honduras and 700,000 in El Salvador, all of whom require humanitarian assistance.
Widespread extreme violence has triggered humanitarian and protection needs that are equivalent to war zones. The consequences include forced displacement, movement restrictions or confinement, sexual and gender-based violence, forced recruitment (including of children), extortion and increasingly limited access to essential services and livelihoods.
Vulnerable people require humanitarian aid for basic necessities such as food, shelter, healthcare, education and protection. Asylum seekers often face limited access to services and employment, are exposed to xenophobia and discrimination, and require legal assistance.
In El Salvador and Honduras, a state of emergency impacts the humanitarian access to vulnerable communities. It often affects children, who become heads of households.
In Nicaragua, government repression continues to reduce the humanitarian space. Over 741,000 Nicaraguans have left the country between 2018-2022, surpassing the Cold War era. Most of them fled to Costa Rica, now the world’s largest recipient of new individual asylum applications.
How are we helping?
Since 1994, the EU has provided €387.4 million in humanitarian aid and disaster preparedness to Central America and Mexico. For 2025, the initial allocation is €10 million for humanitarian aid and another €10.1 million for disaster preparedness actions.
In 2024, the EU provided more than €30 million to Central America and Mexico. This included responding to the dengue outbreak in South and Central America and the impacts of Hurricane John in Mexico, and implementing regional flood responses, especially in Honduras.
EU humanitarian funding supports projects providing health services and protection to displaced people across Central America, as well as to children and families affected by violence in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua. We also provide support beyond Nicaragua’s borders to victims of the country’s civil unrest.
EU funding has also helped respond to emergencies such as floods, droughts, hurricanes, epidemics, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. In addition, it has also meant vulnerable communities can build resilience in the face of potential future disasters.
A Memorandum of Understanding on disaster risk management has been established as a new collaboration instrument between the European Union and the Latin America and Caribbean region. This agreement focuses on disaster preparedness and risk management, and it became effective in May 2024. Many regional disaster management agencies, including the Coordination Centre for the Prevention of Natural Disasters in Central America (CEPREDENAC), have signed as parties to the agreement.
Since 1994, the EU has allocated over €110 million to strengthen disaster preparedness, which is an integral part of EU-funded humanitarian projects.
An improved, timely response to disasters requires targeted actions assisting local communities and institutions. This enables them to identify risks and mitigation measures both before and during natural disasters, including:
- people-centred early warning systems in critical river basins in Guatemala and Honduras;
- improving climate and environmental resilience;
- anticipatory action to address drought and food insecurity in Central America;
- strengthening capacities and coordination of civil society that provide humanitarian assistance to people on the move;
- improving coordination and preparedness to forced displacement.
The EU’s satellite system COPERNICUS was activated yearly since 2020 to provide free imagery in support of disaster response to various disasters, such as floods in the northern Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua, wildfires in the Mexican states of Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas, Hurricane Otis in Acapulco and, more recently, floods in Mexico, Panama and Honduras.
The EU Civil Protection Mechanism was activated after the COVID-19 outbreak to address needs for medical supplies, including vaccinations and equipment in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. It also coordinated repatriation flights of EU citizens stranded in the region.
Last updated: 15/05/2025
Facts & figures
More than 700,000 people are internally displaced. (Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre)
Over 1.3 million refugees and asylum seekers from Central America and Mexico exist worldwide. (UNHCR)
More than 4 million people in need of assistance in the dry corridor of Central America (Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua). (OCHA)
More than 300,000 people have crossed the Darien gap between Panama and Colombia to continue their journey through Central America in 2024. (Panama Government, MSF)
EU humanitarian funding:
€387.4 million since 1994
€20.1 million in 2025