The figures for migrant minors and adolescents are recorded at a time when irregular migration through the Darién is breaking a record, with 211,355 travelers in the first 10 months of this year, of whom 70.1% were Venezuelans, a nationality that promoted this year the wave of migration to the United States, according to official Panamanian figures
During the first 10 months of 2022, the passage of 32,488 minors through the Darién jungle, the dangerous natural border between Colombia and Panama, was registered, according to data shared by Unicef of Panama. The figure is 10% higher than the total number of minors who traveled the same 266-kilometer jungle journey last year.
It also reported that the number of adolescents migrating unaccompanied has quadrupled compared to 2021 to add “around 900 adolescents compared to 200 in 2021.
Minors who cross the jungle are exposed “to multiple forms of violence, including sexual abuse, trafficking and exploitation; lack of safe water and food, insect bites, attacks by wild animals and the sudden rise of rivers,” the United Nations entity stressed.
“Boys and girls under the age of five, who represent 50% of migrant children, are particularly vulnerable to diarrhea, dehydration and other diseases. Additionally, the stress and danger associated with this journey leaves many boys and girls at risk of emotional trauma,” UNICEF highlighted.
The figures for migrant minors and adolescents are recorded at a time when irregular migration through the Darién is breaking a record, with 211,355 travelers in the first 10 months of this year, of whom 70.1% were Venezuelans, a nationality that promoted this year the wave of migration to the United States, according to official Panamanian figures.
Also read: Bishops of Venezuela and Colombia address the migratory situation in the Darién
Panama welcomes travelers at migration reception stations (ERM) located on its borders with Colombia and Costa Rica; They take biometric data and offer them medical services and food, in a unique operation on the continent that has consumed at least 50 million dollars since 2020, according to official data.
“Violence, poverty and the hope of finding better living conditions push families with children to leave their homes and face threats in inhospitable areas such as the Darien Gap,” UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Hannan Sulieman said during a visit to the Lajas Blancas MRE, in the Panamanian province of Darién.
In 2022 a record 32,500 children have crossed the jungle of the #Darien in transit to the United States; half of them are under 5 years old, warned #HannanSuliemanDeputy Executive Director @UNICEF on visit to #LajasBlancas. (1/3) pic.twitter.com/WgbOqOYY9l
— UNICEF Panama (@unicefpanama) November 18, 2022
He pointed out that “in Panama, as in many other countries, the accelerated increase in the number of children migrating overloads the capacity of the State to provide basic services in response to their specific needs”, for which “UNICEF calls on all governments to take actions to protect migrant children, regardless of their origin.”
Unicef reported that it has increased its presence from one to five migrant reception centers on the borders with Colombia and Costa Rica, and in Panama City.
“In the centers, UNICEF provides safe drinking water, personal hygiene items, psychosocial care and maternal and child health services for thousands of boys and girls, and pregnant women on the move, as well as host communities living in poverty. extreme,” said the representative of the UN entity in Panama, Sandie Blanchet.
This presence and action of Unicef is possible thanks to “donors, the Government of the United States and the European Union, and in close collaboration with the Government of Panama and our partners,” added Blanchet.
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