Nearly 500,000 people have passed through the Darien Jungle in 2023. Photo: Portal.
The migration crisis in the Darién region is worsening year after year and has broken alarming records this year. With a total of over 248,000 border crossings compared to 133,000 last year and 6,500 in 2020, the harsh reality of the migration situation in Latin America is clearly visible.
Luis Eguiliz, General Coordinator of Doctors Without Borders (MSF) for Colombia and Panama, highlighted the magnitude of this unprecedented crisis: “The number of migrants who have crossed the jungle represents more than 11% of Panama’s population. Unfortunately, this crisis has not received sufficient attention at either global or regional levels.”
🔴PRESS RELEASE
Darién Gap: an unprecedented and neglected crisis#MSF Warning of massive sexual violence in the Darién Gorge, the border between Colombia and Panama, and a lack of response for migrants along the entire route 👇https://t.co/KeNisYIHzu— MSF Prensa (@MSF_Prensa) November 30, 2023
According to NGO reports, most people venturing into the complicated Darien jungle come from Venezuela and Haiti, a reflection of the human exodus caused by the social, political and economic crises in those countries. However, the presence of migrants from Ecuador, Chile, Burkina Faso, China, India, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Cameroon was also recorded, all with the same goal: to reach the United States.
In addition to the natural risks posed by the dangerous jungle area, MSF warns of the significant increase in crimes committed by criminal groups operating in the heart of Darien, with women being one of the groups most affected by sexual violence .
According to the organization, 397 victims of sexual violence were treated in the Panamanian part of Darién, 95% of whom were women. These violations of their dignity, ranging from non-consensual touching to rape, often occur in front of other migrants or in the makeshift camps that displaced people have set up to sleep in the jungle.
Migrants face “hunger, lack of shelter and water sources, excessive fees, misinformation and scams, xenophobia, and physical, psychological and sexual violence.” Photo: Portal.
The International Organization for Migration’s (IOM) Missing Migrants Project, which is responsible for monitoring migration routes around the world, updated its statistics on November 23, revealing that the number of missing and deceased people on these routes on the American continent in 2023 rises to 1,078, a value that is even lower than the previous year (1,457).
Since 2014, when the IOM introduced this monitoring mechanism, the total number of dead and missing in the region has risen to 8,543. The Americas is considered the location of the most dangerous land migration routes, including the US-Mexico border crossing as well as the Darién Gap between Panama and Colombia.
The Americas region, which includes South, Central and North America and the Caribbean, is characterized by mixed, complex and dynamic migration flows both within and outside the region, according to IOM. This organization has warned of the “unprecedented” migration movement being recorded through Mexico and Central America.