The transit of migrant children through Darién grows in 2023

The transit of minors through the jungle of the Panamanian province of Dariénon the border with Colombia, grew during January and February compared to the same period in 2022, which is in line with an exponential increase registered by this irregular flow through that inhospitable area so far this year, warned human rights organizations and who work with children.

In January and February, 9,683 minors crossed the Darién, 8,305 more than in the same period last year, which ended with a historical record with the transit of 40,438 children and adolescents, 1,119 of them unaccompanied, according to official statistics collected in a report on the human rights situation of children who cross alone or accompanied the dangerous Colombian-Panamanian border towards North America.

This increase in minors, which is seven times higher, could be due to the fact that during the first two months of this year almost 50,000 foreigners have crossed, five times more than in the same period of the previous year, whose highest traffic peaks were registered in September and October.

When presenting the report’s conclusions to the press on Wednesday, the Panamanian Ombudsman’s Office and two United Nations agencies stated that this route is being consolidated and that irregular transit cases are not expected to stop in the short term.

“Year after year the numbers of migrants in transit through Panama are exceeded and the trend of the first months of 2023 indicates an unprecedented growth,” said Alberto Brunori, representative of the Regional Office for Central America of the United Nations High Commissioner. for Human Rights which, together with Unicef, took part in the report.

Brunori urged to reinforce the measures that, according to him, Panama and United Nations agencies implement to fully protect children who move across the borders of the Central American country.

Last year almost a quarter of a million migrants crossed the Darién, in what represented the largest flow recorded on that route to date and which was dominated by Venezuelans, Ecuadorians and Haitians. This year the largest transits have been Haitians, Ecuadorians and Venezuelans, respectively.

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