The migration crisis in the country during 2021 was critical for several months, however, since the last months of the year the number of migrants was declining.
According to Hussein Pitty, national director of the National Office for Refugee Assistance (ONPAR), of the more than 133,000 migrants reported by the National Migration Service who crossed the Darién trail last year, only 51 of them requested the protection of the Panamanian State.
With this figure, the official considered that Panama today becomes a transit route and, quite the contrary, they request international protection.
Pitty explained that an asylee is not the same as a refugee. “Anyone who asks for asylum is a political process and it is through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, while the refugee is the mandate of ONPAR within the Panamanian mandate to serve them,” he said.
He added that a refugee is a person who, unlike a migrant who voluntarily chooses to go from one country to another, has to flee because he or she has a well-founded fear of being persecuted for very clear reasons established in the 51 Convention, which indicates that it may be due to race. , creed, religion, political opinion, nationality or belonging to a certain social group.
She mentioned that Panama became the first country in the region to incorporate the gender motive, and that these characteristics are restrictive, that is, if a person does not flee their country, is not afraid and has not suffered persecution, obviously we would not be dealing with a person who requires the protection of the State.
During 2018, ONPAR was impacted by the situation in Venezuela-Nicaragua and more than 10,000 applications were submitted; in 2019, 9,675 were presented; in 2020, 655 applications, and more than 93% of requests for international protection were reduced and last year they closed with 551 applications, that is, there was a decrease in that exponential increase that has been experienced in previous years.
According to the director of ONPAR, this reduction is due to the fact that response times have been shortened and people have been taught that this office is not a safe-conduct or to extend their time in Panama.
