The United Nations Children’s Agency UNICEF, stated on Monday that 19,000 migrant children have traversed the dangerous jungles that span the border between Panama and Colombia on their way north to the United States.
It added that the number of children who crossed the Darien Gap is nearly three times greater than the total number in the previous five years. One out of every five migrants crossing the border is a child, with half of them being under the age of five, UNICEF said in a statement.
According to the UNICEF, at least five children have been found dead in the forest in 2021, and more than 150 children have arrived in Panama without their parents, some of them being new-born babies. These numbers were nearly 20 times more when compared to last year’s statistics.
UNICEF Regional Director Jean Gough said that robbery, rape, and human trafficking were as deadly as wild animals, insects, and the complete lack of safe drinking water deep in the jungle. On that risky route, more children die, lose their parents or get separated from their relatives, day after day. Migrant children are often accompanied by relatives or placed in the hands of human smugglers.
UNICEF claimed that people from more than 50 nations in Africa, South Asia and South America, have crossed the region. The borders have been closed for months due to the pandemic. When Panama opened the borders, authorities warned of a possible crisis, in the beginning of 2021.
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