United Nations: One-Third Increase in Youth Attempting Perilous Darien Gap Crossing

May 16 :
On May 15, the United Nations' Children's Fund (UNICEF) reported that the number of minors attempting to traverse the Darien Gap, a perilous rainforest passage between Colombia and Panama, is expected to reach 160,000, an increase of 34% from the previous year.

According to UNICEF, the influx of children travelling towards the United States through the Darien Gap is a "prolonged crisis." The organisation has noted that there will be a fifth year in a row of child migration records in this perilous jungle passage in 2024. An increase of 40% from the same period last year brings the total number of minors who have walked through the area this year to over 30,000. They were either split from their families or wandered about alone, numbering over 2,000.

The Darien Gap is no place for children. Many children have died on this difficult, deadly journey. Women have given birth while en route, ushering new life into the world in the most demanding of conditions', UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Ted Chaiban is cited as saying in the release.

He went on to say that one in five persons making the journey through the jungle are children.An all-time high of 520,000 people made the same trek in 2023.Jose Raul Mulino, who was elected president of Panama earlier this month, will take office in July and has promised to close the migratory route.