How UNICEF Helps Children On The Move in Panama

Karin Hulshof, UNICEF Regional Director in Latin America and the Caribbean, plays with a baby at a respite center for migrating families in Darién, Panama.

Children who make the harrowing journey through the Darién Gap arrive in Panama in urgent need of assistance

Forced out of their homes by armed violence, extreme poverty and the devastating effects of climate change, families continue to make the dangerous trek through the Darién Gap from South America to Central America in search of safety and a better future for their children.

In the first seven months of 2024 alone, some 200,000 people crossed the Darién Gap. One out of four are children. By November 2024, nearly 4,500 unaccompanied and separated children had made the perilous journey, compared to less than 3,300 recorded in all of 2023.

UNICEF works with governments, NGOs and other UN agencies to ensure migrating children and their families have access to essential services.

A chance for children to feel safe again

Speaking from Lajas Blancas Migration Reception Center in Darién, Panama, Karin Hulshof, UNICEF Regional Director in Latin America and the Caribbean, describes some of the services provided for children and families, including toilets, showers, a first medical check-up and mental health and psychosocial support, along with child-friendly spaces where kids can go to play and feel safe again.

“They’ve seen the worst of the worst,” says Hulshof. “It is a tragedy that is happening in Latin America. We have to see it at a regional level. It is not only what is happening between Colombia and Panama and this Darién Gap, it is everywhere.”

On Sept. 20, 2024 in a child-friendly space at Lajas Blancas Migration Reception Center in Darién, Panama, Karin Hulshof, UNICEF Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, talks with a boy about his experience crossing the Darién Gap.

Every child, no matter what her circumstances, has the right to survive and thrive. From delivering lifesaving aid to those on the move to addressing the root causes of migration, UNICEF and partners are committed to protecting the rights and futures of the world’s children.

“It is impossible to imagine what they went through,” says Hulshof of the more than 46,000 children who have travelled through the Darién Gap’s dense and treacherous jungle in 2024. “So here we are, we do absolutely our best to attend everyone with the minimum care that everyone deserves — every child, everywhere.”

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Publish date : 2024-12-13 00:17:00

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