According to the head of the Global Management Center and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in the Isthmus Giuseppe Loprete, the Channel nation proposed setting up an observatory in the region that would allow reliable data to be shared between different countries, which is key to adopting political Action is decisions.
Loprete pointed out that Panama is essential in this sense because of its geographic location.
Dialogue with the press highlighted the data officially cited by the IOM, which ensures that from January to November this year, 227,987 migrants of 70 different nationalities passed through the Darién jungle on the border with Colombia in transit for the north country.
In addition, he pointed out that this route is a jungle and an inhospitable space through which irregular travelers travel, and opted for an orderly and safe migration.
According to Panama’s National Migration Service, the number of children entering the Canal Nation through the Darién Gap has surpassed 36,000 so far in 2022, surpassing the more than 29,000 seen the previous year, marking an all-time high since those statistics were kept.
More than 900 of the infants arrive at the isthmus without their families because they were separated in the jungle or are teenagers traveling alone.
According to official figures, so far this year the state has set aside more than $50 million for migrant care at reception centers, including biometric registration and health and food services.
Therefore, Panama has insisted at dozens of national events and international forums on the need for shared responsibility between sending and receiving countries to counter this scourge.
For the Deputy Director General of the National Migration Service, María Isabel Saravia, accountability must be sought from all parties.
“Security does not violate human rights and migration, it is part of what we must give these people by at least offering them the defense of their rights against criminal organizations that abuse them,” he noted.
In 2000, in view of increasing migration flows worldwide, the UN General Assembly proclaimed December 18th as the International Day of Migrants to promote the exchange of experiences and opportunities for cooperation between countries and regions.
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