Despite being among the most vulnerable members of society, children in Mongolia continue to be neglected and marginalized at all levels. Although they have an inherent right to protection, care and love, these rights are frequently overlooked both by policymakers and by society at large. One of the core reasons behind this systemic neglect is the political invisibility of children. As they do not participate in elections, they lack a direct voice in democratic processes. This often results in their needs being deprioritized in national agendas and budget allocations. The chronic underinvestment in child protection reflects this. Even a century-old children’s organization has struggled to establish a functional and well-resourced system. In some cases, despite being officially established, such institutions have operated without an adequate budget.
Although there have been recent improvements, notably, the child protection sector has seen a significant increase in budget over the past five years and now operates under an independent legal framework, these gains are fragile. Any political or administrative change threatens to undo this progress. A concerning example is the current attempt to cut the child protection workforce under the guise of budget efficiency. Authorities are reportedly seeking to save approximately 3.5 billion MNT by reducing human resources in the child protection sector. This move undermines the very infrastructure needed to safeguard children’s rights and welfare. It is especially disheartening that this initiative is being spearheaded by Prime Minister and Head of the National Council for Children G.Zandanshatar. This institution should be the foremost advocate for child welfare in Mongolia. Such actions send a clear message: children remain an afterthought in national development. The government must recognize that sustainable, equitable progress is impossible without prioritizing the well-being of its youngest citizens. Society, too, must reflect on its collective responsibility toward children and demand accountability when their rights are compromised.
Since 2016, Mongolia has made gradual improvements in funding its child protection sector. What began with a modest allocation of 300 million MNT has steadily grown year by year. Between 2018 and 2021, the state allocated 5 billion MNT annually, increasing to 8 billion MNT in both 2022 and 2023. In 2024, for the first time, the government approved a historic 23 billion MNT budget for the sector, reflecting a hopeful recognition of the importance of child welfare. However, this initial progress has been undercut. Due to amendments linked to the implementation of the Child Protection Law, the allocated amount has already been reduced to 20.6 billion MNT. Worse still, an additional 3.5 billion MNT in so-called “budget savings” is expected to be stripped from the sector.
This proposed reduction is not just a fiscal adjustment, it is a direct threat to the foundational structure of child protection. It is widely believed that these savings will be achieved by cutting the number of social workers who operate at the most critical level of intervention: within communities, households and families. These workers are the first and often only point of contact between vulnerable children and state services. By weakening this primary layer, the government risks dismantling what little infrastructure exists to safeguard children, particularly under the new legal framework that was designed to strengthen - not hollow out - the sector.
Despite the urgency of the matter, there has been a troubling lack of public discourse or official accountability. The silence is deafening, even as experienced child protection professionals and advocates raise the alarm. Among the most vocal critics is D.Undraa, a Member of the National Council for Children, who also serves as the general coordinator of the National Movement Against Child Abuse, the founder of the Ujin Center for the Rehabilitation of Children Victims of Sexual Abuse, and a national trainer and consultant for the Joint Child Protection Team. She has condemned the government’s actions, noting that while the budget has increased on paper, there has been no corresponding improvement in the quality or effectiveness of services delivered.
D.Undraa has pointed to deeper systemic issues that continue to undermine the sector. She argues that the frequent turnover of provincial and district-level leadership responsible for child protection has disrupted continuity and weakened institutional capacity. At the same time, she highlights how appointments to key positions in children’s organizations have increasingly become political rewards rather than merit-based selections, stripping the system of the competence and commitment it so urgently needs. According to her, despite its century-long existence, the child protection sector in Mongolia is in crisis, suffering from a serious decline in both human resources and morale. She believes the sector is only able to function at all thanks to the efforts of a few skilled, qualified and deeply dedicated individuals.
The unfolding situation reveals a disturbing contradiction. On one hand, the state has enacted legislation and significantly increased funding in recent years, signaling a formal commitment to child welfare. On the other hand, that commitment is being quietly dismantled through budget cuts and bureaucratic decisions that directly contradict the intent of the law. The lack of public outrage or political accountability only adds to the sense that Mongolia’s children - those who do not vote, do not protest, and cannot lobby - remain among the most neglected and unprotected members of society.
Consultant D.Undraa has also expressed deep concern over recent government actions to reduce human resources in the child protection sector under the pretext of saving 3.5 billion MNT. According to her, this move not only contradicts the intentions behind the Child Protection Law, which came into force on September 1, but also undermines years of progress in strengthening frontline services. She noted that Mongolia’s legal and policy framework on child protection has improved considerably compared to the past. For the first time, the country has a dedicated law that mandates the protection of children, and outlines clear responsibilities at every level of government. However, the implementation of this law remains deeply flawed, particularly in rural areas. Based on her direct work with more than 140 Joint Child Protection Teams across 54 soums in five provinces, D.Undraa observed that the activities of the local Joint Child Protection Councils, which are led by soum and district governors, have not been functioning smoothly. One of the major issues is the lack of investment in training. The government has neglected to properly train specialists or equip them with practical tools and methods to carry out their duties effectively.
After more than a decade of persistent advocacy, the Child Protection Law now includes a provision that mandates the employment of child and family social workers, with clearly approved staffing and budgeting. This breakthrough led to the deployment of 843 child and family social workers across 204 khoroos, 330 soums and several highly populated provincial centers. Altogether, the entire child protection workforce currently comprises only about 1,930 people nationwide. D.Undraa emphasized that this is the first time the primary level of child protection has gained operational capacity, what she described as finally having “legs and arms”. And yet, the government is now moving to lay off nine to 10 percent of the workforce, or approximately 190 people. She questioned how such a decision could be justified, especially when those affected are the workers closest to children and families in the community.
“The people we are about to lay off are the ones closest to the ground. Many of them still don’t even have basic tools, such as computers and equipment. In some cases, when a child goes missing, they don’t even have a vehicle to go looking for them. In this situation, instead of proudly claiming to save 3.5 billion MNT by cutting child protection staff, the government should be ashamed,” she said.
She also criticized the short-sightedness of attempting to cut costs in a sector that the public is only now beginning to recognize as vital and irreplaceable. “Citizens now understand that this is a sector that cannot be compromised, you cannot cut its budget, reduce its staff, or strip away its resources. And yet, the government is trying to present this attack on child protection as some kind of display of strength, as if showing an 'iron face' will make this acceptable. It won’t.”
Across the country, there is growing public consensus that child protection is one of the few sectors that should not be subject to budget reductions. Yet despite an already critical shortage of human resources, the government is moving forward with plans to cut staff, prompting widespread concern and confusion over who exactly is being laid off when the sector is already struggling to function.
Take, for example, Tosontsengel soum in Zavkhan Province, which has a population of approximately 13,000 people. Despite this, the soum has only one social policy specialist, a role shared with five other livestock-related responsibilities. This individual, who strictly speaking is not even directly connected to the child protection sector, is nonetheless expected to support the work of the Joint Child Protection Team as part of the new legal framework. This example is not isolated. Across the country, staff with no training or mandate in child welfare are being forced to fill roles in child protection out of necessity, not design.
Despite the recent allocation of 20.6 billion MNT for the child protection sector in 2024, this equates to just 15,000 MNT per child per year, an amount that is entirely insufficient to meet the growing needs of children, especially those in vulnerable situations. The severity of the crisis is starkly reflected in national statistics: between 2020 and 2024, a total of 4,161 children, including 263 boys and 3,898 girls, were officially registered as victims of sexual violence. Among them, 98 girls aged between 10 and 14 and 11,878 girls aged 15 to 19 were victims of sexual violence who subsequently gave birth while still minors. Furthermore, 215 girls aged between 10 and 14 and 2,950 girls aged 15 to 19 had abortions, resulting in severe physical and psychological trauma.
These are only the documented cases, the actual number of children affected is almost certainly higher. The statistics paint a devastating picture of a child protection system that remains structurally weak, underfunded, and hampered by ineffective interagency coordination. There is little public transparency about what services the state has provided to these victims, how many received support, how often, and at what cost. As D.Undraa bluntly stated, “We don’t even know what services were given to these children, how many times, or how much was spent.”
She stressed that it is the child and family social workers at the primary level who are doing the most meaningful work with abused, neglected and vulnerable children. Yet they are now the ones being targeted for layoffs, not the high-ranking officials or political appointees who have misused public funds and driven the country into fiscal crisis. “The people working with abused, pressured and abandoned children are not the ones squandering state funds. They’re not the ones benefiting from the 23 mismanaged public financing schemes, such as the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Fund, the Development Bank, the Education Loan Fund, the Agricultural Support Fund, and so on. Those responsible for this waste are the political entourages who have enriched themselves so much they can’t even prove the sources of their wealth, and yet it’s the child protection workers whose jobs are now being cut.”
A truly effective child development and protection system must be built on five fundamental services: health, education, welfare, legal protection, and social and psychological support. These are internationally recognized as the essential pillars for ensuring a child’s well-being and safety. From birth, children must have access to quality health services to ensure proper physical and developmental growth. Beginning in early childhood, they should be enrolled in educational programs such as kindergartens, which form the foundation for lifelong learning. Welfare support must be available to meet the basic needs of families in vulnerable circumstances. Legal services, including crime prevention, civil registration and protection at border crossings, must ensure children’s rights are upheld under the law. Finally, accessible social and psychological services are vital to supporting children through trauma, stress, or family breakdown. However, according to government officials and sector experts, these five pillars have historically functioned without any real coordination in Mongolia. The institutions and authorized bodies tasked with providing these services have often worked in isolation, with fragmented responsibilities and limited accountability. As a result, children have continued to fall through the cracks of a disjointed and reactive system.
The core issue lies in the state’s failure to implement a family-centered child protection model. Despite various legal and policy commitments, Mongolia has yet to transition from a reactive system to one focused on prevention, care and long-term well-being within the family unit. Without this shift, children remain highly vulnerable to violence, abuse and neglect, often within their own homes. Reports continue to surface of children being burned, injured, or left unattended in dangerous domestic environments, while systemic failures allow such cases to repeat.
Beyond the home, the physical environment where children live and play is often unsafe. Many neighborhoods lack adequate infrastructure, including lighting, secure roads, reliable public transportation and safe buildings. Poorly lit streets, exposed electrical wiring, and unsafe structures make children more vulnerable to accidents, assault, and exploitation. These are not merely infrastructure issues, they are direct child protection concerns. Yet neither parents, guardians, nor the government have adequately fulfilled their shared responsibility to ensure a safe environment for all children.
