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Highlights
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In 2023, Panama registered 113,180 children and over 1,000 pregnant women who transited through the Darien jungle and the country, out of a total of 520,085 people on the move. This represents a tripling of the number of children compared to 2022 (40,438 children).
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3,300 unaccompanied and/or separated children were registered in 2023, which is three times higher than the number registered in 2022 (1,067 cases). Unaccompanied adolescents made up 60% of the total, with children from 6 to 12 years old representing 30% and children under five representing 10%. Gender-based violence, particularly sexual violence affecting women and girls increased significantly during the year.
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In October, the Governments of Panama and Costa Rica signed an agreement to provide direct bus transport for migrants from the Darien to Costa Rica, leading to the closure of the Temporary Migrant Reception Station (TMRS) of Los Planes de Gualaca in the Province of Chiriquí at the border with Costa Rica.
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In the Darien, the main community affected by migration remained the village of Bajo Chiquito, which received up to 4,000 migrants a day, followed by Canaan Membrillo. The two TMRS continue to host far more migrants and refugees than their official capacity.
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In October and November, nationwide protests and the blockage of roads affected the migration flow, hindering overall mobility throughout the country, forcing hundreds of migrants and refugees to continue on foot due to blockages along the route.
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With the financial support of the US Government, the European Union, the UN Central Emergency Response Fund and with its own resources, UNICEF increased its support to the Government’s response, scaling up its presence and provision of services at different points along the migration route. UNICEF provided lifesaving services in water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), child protection, case management, child and maternal health, and Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in the communities affected by migration and all the TMRS in Panama. UNICEF maintained protection through presence actions every day of the year and continued to support ten communities affected by migration, with a focus on children.
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UNICEF continued to work closely with the national authorities who lead and coordinate the humanitarian response, such as the border police, the migration services, the National Child Protection Authority, the Ministry of Health, and the local authorities. UNICEF was an active member of the UN Working Group on Migration and collaborated closely with several NGOs. Through its permanent Office in the Darien and its implementing partners, UNICEF ensured the presence of over 100 professionals for the provision of essential services to children and their families.
Situation Overview
In 2023, the number of migrants and refugees transiting through the Darien gap and Panama reached a historic record, with 520,085 migrants crossing, of which 113,180 were children, accounting for 22% of the total. The yearly total more than doubled those of last year, with children representing three times those that crossed during 2022. Pregnant women in transit increased to over 1,000 during the year. People from Venezuela accounted for 63% of the flow, followed by Ecuador (11%), Haiti (9%), China (5%), and Colombia (3%). Over 100 nationalities were identified that year.
During the transit through the Panamanian Darien Jungle, children are exposed to multiple hazards and vulnerabilities, including dangerous terrain and accidents, family separation, animal attacks, crime, sexual violence and abuse, and lack of access to food and water. In 2023, 3,300 unaccompanied and/or separated children and adolescents of more than 33 nationalities were registered transiting through the Darien, of which the main nationalities were Venezuela (62%) and Ecuadorian (22%). Children aged 0 to 5 made up 14% of the cases, followed by children from 6 to 12 years (23%), and adolescents from 13 to 17 years old (56%) with boys adolescents representing more than half. The number of unaccompanied and/or separated children in 2023 was three-fold compared to 2022. Some 16 cases of stateless children were identified during the year and supported through UNICEF funded services. According to Doctors without Borders, gender-based violence, particularly sexual violence affecting women and girls as young as 10 years of age, increased significantly during the year with more than 600 survivors identified by the NGO. Nearly 9% are children under 18, the vast majority of them girls. When children and families arrive at the TMRS in Darien, they require protection services, medical attention and basic food items and water to survive, access to sanitation (shower and toilets, hygiene items) psychosocial and mental health support.
In February 2023, the most tragic bus accident in the history of Panama occurred, leaving 16 surviving children (5 girls, 4 boys, 1 female adolescent, and 6 male adolescents). UNICEF and its partners RET and HIAS accompanied the rehabilitation process of the surviving boys and girls and their families in coordination with national authorities to guarantee their access to documentation, physical and mental health treatments, family tracing and reunification, psychosocial, recreational, and educational activities.
From July to October, the number of migrants and refugees through the dangerous jungle of Darien increased dramatically, reaching a peak of 81,946 people transiting in August alone. During this peak, the authorities registered the arrival of up to 5,000 people a day. This led to the overcrowding of the TMRS and host communities and exceeded the capacity of the Government and humanitarian actors on the ground to provide basic life-saving services, including health services (particularly for survivors of sexual violence), the provision of safe drinking water, and protection services. At the same time, while migration has become a significant source of income, the unprecedented number of people on the move negatively impacted the small communities on the route in the indigenous territory of the Embera-Wounaan, especially children. Their access to basic services, including water, sanitation, health, and education, was significantly hampered.
In October, the Governments of Panama and Costa Rica signed an agreement to provide direct bus transportation for migrants from the TMRS in Darien to the Temporal Migration Center (CATEM) in Costa Rica. This led to the closure of the TMRS of Los Planes de Gualaca in the Province of Chiriqui, forcing several families to leave the Station without the resources to continue. Additionally, the change implied a sudden increase in the cost of bus transportation, increasing from $40 to $60 per person, including children above 5 years old. As a result, several families were unable to continue their journey and had to stay more than 7 days in the TMRS in the Darien. This increased the risks for migrants and refugees, especially women and adolescents girls, with cases of sexual exploitations reported by NGOs. In 2023, with UNICEF’s technical and financial support the Panama’s Ombudsman Office issued the Human Rights Report on the Rights of Children on the Move through Panama and Border Zones highlighting the risks children are facing as they cross the jungle and the negative impact local children are experiencing.
In 2024, given the needs, UNICEF continues to provide greater humanitarian assistance to children and families on the move and calls for countries of origin, transit, and destination to strengthen the protection systems to ensure that every child is protected from all forms of violence and has access to their basic rights.