This Tuesday, the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) warned that the number of migrant minors who crossed the Darien jungle in Panama between the months of January and April multiplied eight times, compared to the same period of 2022. According to a report, the numbers reached record numbers of more than 25,000 minors.
Unicef affirmed that the children and adolescents arrived on foot to the host communities and to the temporary refuge stations for migrants, located throughout the journey through the jungle, where thousands of people travel to North America and receive health and food assistance. “Boys and girls who survive transit through the Darién jungle require life-saving interventions such as medical care, access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene implements,” the agency said.
In addition to that, the international organization urged society and the State to join in a joint effort to ensure that all boys and girls can grow up in a safe environment. This month, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) warned that minors on the Mexican border and other routes in Central America, including the Darién Jungle, are the most vulnerable on the route to reach the United States.
The agency recalled that during this journey minors face accidents, disappearances and deaths, despite being accompanied. The Migration Policy Unit of the Ministry of the Interior (Segob) of Mexico published this year that during 2022 more than 70,000 foreign migrant minors were registered by the National Institute of Migration (INM).
In addition, they determined that 43,477 were between the ages of 0 and 11, and at least 12,954 were traveling completely alone. The director of Migration of Panama, Samira Gozaine, assured that in her last visit to the Darién Gap she saw newborn children of days, and many migrants lose their children because it is heavy to carry them, since it is difficult for them to face the climatic and environmental conditions from the jungle.
With information from EFE
Keep reading:
- Migrants from Haiti protested in Mexico City to demand work permits and decent facilities to stop living on the streets
- Trump vows to eliminate US birthright citizenship if re-elected president