About 19,000 children have crossed since early 2021 the Darien jungle, on the border between Colombia and Panama, in the hope of reaching the United States, Unicef announced on Monday, which is alarmed by this "historic" figure. .
"The number of migrant children who crossed the Darien 'plug' on foot has reached an all-time high," said the United Nations Children's Fund in a report which specifies that half of them are under. five years.
One of the "most dangerous places for migrants"
And this despite the fact that the Darien, a dense and inhospitable forest that connects South America to Central America is one "of the most dangerous places for migrants trying to reach North America", recalls the Unicef.
According to the UN agency, they are mostly from Haiti or Haitian parents who have previously stayed in Chile or Brazil.
The number of children having crossed the zone since the debate of the year is "almost three times higher than that recorded over the whole of the five preceding years", according to the report.
"A dizzying and unprecedented increase"
"This is a dizzying and unprecedented increase, we had never recorded such a high figure," underlined Laurent Duvillier, Unicef's communications manager for Latin America and the Caribbean.
Unicef also underlines the sharp increase in the number of children crossing the Darien alone.
In 2020, they were only eight, against 153 in 2021.
The Darien, a dense forest of 575,000 hectares, which stretches over 266 km, has become a zone of passage for illegal immigrants trying to reach the United States.
The crossing of this mountainous jungle infested with snakes, strewn with ravines and rife with criminal gangs, lasts two to three days.
Unicef warns of the dangers faced by children who make the crossing and recalls that many of them suffer from diarrhea, respiratory illnesses and dehydration.
More than 90,000 migrants crossed in 2021
"In the depths of the jungle, thefts, rapes and human trafficking are just as dangerous as wild animals, insects and the lack of drinking water", underlines the director of Unicef for America Latin and the Caribbean, Jean Gough.
Since the start of 2021, more than 90,000 migrants in total have crossed the Darien, according to the latest figures from the National Migration Service of Panama, a figure equivalent to those for all of the previous five years.
The vast majority of them are Haitians and Cubans.
Some come from Asia or Africa.
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