As the number of refugees and migrants crossing the Darién jungle this year reaches an unprecedented 500,000 – more than double the crossings last year – the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) warned Thursday of a deepening humanitarian emergency in the Americas and called for a comprehensive regional approach to address the serious protection risks and urgent humanitarian needs of people on the move.
The epicenter of the crisis, the Darien region of Panama, shows the scale and complexity of the movements of people across the continent. The Darién Gap is a geographic area of rainforest that connects Central America with South America.
Despite its dangers, the land bridge has become an important corridor for migrants and refugees trying to cross from South America to the United States via Central America. The perilous journey is threatened by poisonous snakes, raging rivers and criminal gangs who demand money to guide migrants through the jungle. Migrants and rights groups have denounced robberies, murders, and sexual assaults in the remote jungle.
Refugees and migrants continue to make the dangerous journey across this roadless stretch of land separating South and Central America in search of safety and a better life. Most come from Venezuela, Haiti and Ecuador, as well as from other countries in South America and the Caribbean.
Others come from further afield, including Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and the Middle East. People crossing the Darien and other borders irregularly are exposed to grave dangers, such as natural hazards, sexual and gender-based violence, robbery, human trafficking, extortion and kidnapping.
“The challenges that the unprecedented population movements in the Americas pose are formidable,” said UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi.
“No country on its own is equipped to address them. Only by coming together with all relevant stakeholders in a collaborative route-based approach, looking at what we can do at each step of the journey, can we tackle them effectively.”
In a joint statement Wednesday, IOM and UNHCR said that a broader approach is required which takes into account the situation in countries of origin, transit and destination. This approach must include redoubling efforts to address the causes that lead people to leave their countries in the first place, including greater economic investment and addressing inequality, lack of access to basic health and education, violence and human rights abuses, they said.
The approach also required greater support for host countries to provide people with other options than to continue dangerous journeys. Development actors and international financial institutions played an important role in helping to strengthen national services.
“Host countries require greater support from the international community to strengthen national services and provide integration opportunities for people to find stability and avoid embarking on dangerous journeys,” said Amy Pope, IOM’s Director General.
“Migrants and refugees are powerful drivers for development and for stronger and more diverse communities and societies.”
Both UN agencies highlighted the importance of expanding refugee resettlement and regular migration pathways for saving lives and harnessing the potential for development that refugees and migrants bring. Scaling up existing initiatives and creating more opportunities for safe and regular migration through humanitarian and work visas, educational exchanges and family reunification programs would in turn benefit economies in need of labor, innovation and diversity.
UNHCR warned that restrictive policies that create barriers to asylum, and returning people to places where their lives could be at risk, are contrary to international refugee law and are not the appropriate answer. IOM cautioned that hampering pathways for regular migration only leads to people taking more dangerous routes and contributes to the expansion of criminal activities.
Further information
Full text: IOM, UNHCR call for stronger response in the Americas as half a million people cross the Darien jungle, IOM, UNHCR, press release, published December 7, 2023
https://www.unhcr.org/news/press-releases/iom-unhcr-call-stronger-response-americas-half-million-people-cross-darien