19,000 Migrant Children Have Crossed Dangerous Jungles In Trek To The US

In search of a better life, 19,000 migrant children have crossed the Darien Gap, a dangerous forest saddling the Panama and Colombia border so far this year, a new report by UNICEF revealed Monday. Even though the majority of the migrants have been from Haiti, individuals from 50 other nationalities are using the route to reach the U.S.

One in five migrants crossing the border between Panama and Colombia are children. Half of them are under five years old, the agency said in a statement. This year, the total number of children that have already journeyed through the forest is three times higher than the total for the previous year.

"Each child crossing the Darien Gap on foot is a survivor. Deep in the jungle, robbery, rape and human trafficking are as dangerous as wild animals, insects and the absolute lack of safe drinking water," said UNICEF Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, Jean Gough, in the statement. "Week after week, more children are dying, losing their parents, or getting separated from their relatives while on this perilous journey. It’s appalling that criminal groups are taking advantage of these children when they are the most vulnerable."

The agency said that more than 150 children arrived in Panama without their parents and some of the children were newborns. The numbers for unaccompanied children rose nearly 20 times compared to last year, said the agency. In 2021, at least five children were found dead in the jungle.

"In the Darien jungle, sexual violence is increasingly and intentionally used by criminal gangs as an instrument of terror," stated the agency. Since the beginning of 2021, UNICEF has registered 29 reports of sexual abuse of adolescent girls during the journey. More women have been sexually abused.

The agency said the number of children and migrants crossing the Darien Gap is expected to increase in the coming weeks.

A program has been set up by the UNICEF and its partners in Panama where arriving children are provided psychological support and health services. Children who have undergone violence are being entrusted to local protection services.

UNICEF is also providing drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene services to the migrants in Colombia before they set out on the dangerous journey through the border forest.

As of September, 91,305 migrants have made the journey to Panama from Colombia. Among them, 56,676 migrants were from Haiti and 12,870 were from Cuba, according to Reuters.

"Never before have our teams on the ground seen so many young children crossing the Darien Gap – often unaccompanied. Such a fast-growing influx of children heading north from South America should urgently be treated as a serious humanitarian crisis by the entire region, beyond Panama," Gough said.