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.”

In May, the UN warned of a surge in the recruitment and use of child soldiers in conflict zones, and of an increased number of children killed and maimed in 2017.

The analysis of UK aid spending will add to growing concern about sexual abuse in humanitarian disasters, including by aid workers. At a UK safeguarding summit last month, Penny Mordaunt, the international development secretary, called on the global aid community to take more action against sexual predators.

World Vision UK has launched a petition calling for the government to spend 10% of its annual humanitarian aid budget – an additional £100m a year – on violence prevention and recovery projects.

Last year, Sweden spent more than a fifth of its budget, £75.9m, on similar programmes.

“Sadly, there are people who prey on children when at their weakest, seek to recruit them into militias, or force them into sex work,” said Westwood. “Children in conflicts are routinely raped, forced to watch and commit terrible atrocities, and put to work in dangerous situations.”

The Department for International Development said in a statement that it provides “significant support” to protect children, including in its wider humanitarian programmes.

The extent of its work in this area is not fully reflected in the report, added the DfID statement, which cited the Education Cannot Wait programme, a global fund for education in emergencies, that is not mentioned in the report. The UK is among the largest funders of the programme, which has child protection at its centre.