Migrant victim of multiple attacks in the Darien jungle

Women are the victims of more attacks than men during the migration journey, a reality that is reinforced when crossing the Darien Jungle, the natural border that separates Panama from Colombia and which the Panamanian authorities defined this Thursday as “the most dangerous in the Americas”. .

The The Minister of Women of Panama, Juana Herrerahe warned about this situation during the inauguration in the capital of Panama of the 5th Regional Congress of Women in the context of migration: “Migration has a female face: for the respect and integrity of their rights.”

“A woman who decides to make this dangerous journey faces the dangers that this journey brings, since many mobilize while pregnant, travel with their daughters and sons, some have seen them die, suffered attacks, were victims of physical violence and sexual violence. , among other types of abuse,” Herrera said.

“All these risks are amplified when crossing the most dangerous jungle in America,” The minister reassured about Darién, a journey that so far this year, about 48,773 women and more than 18,000 girls have gone through, she pointed out.

In this jungle, he said, they have to overcome rivers, “dense vegetation, wild animals, stay on muddy trails, fatigue, heat, prevailing humidity, armed groups and coyotes (…) to keep the promise of a better destiny”.

Panamanian authorities reported this week that the number of migrants who have crossed the Darién jungle so far this year already exceeds 200,000, an unprecedented number that is multiplied by four times the 49,452 who crossed this border in the first half of 2022.

This two-day congress is organized by member countries The Regional Conference on Migration (CRM) and the Pro-tempore Presidency in charge of Panama, supported by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), among others.

“We emphasize the importance and obligation that transit countries must have in providing access to basic health services, food and security services, as well as guaranteeing non-discrimination and hypersexualization of migrant women and girls,” Herrera warned.

Panama receives irregular travelers bound for North America at immigration stations located near its southern border with Colombia and on its northern border with Costa Rica, where it offers them health care and food, in a unique operation on the continent involving a dozen international organizations.

Climate crisis and migration
Regional Director for IOM Central America, North America and the Caribbean, Michele Klein Solomon, for his part, he drew attention to the need to “apply a gender perspective centered on people and human rights, calling for girls and migrant women not to be left behind”.

“The World Trafficking Report clearly shows that women and children suffer more violence from traffickers. Case analysis shows that women are exposed to physical violence (…) by traffickers at a rate three times higher than that of men,” he noted.

Additionally, Solomon noted that “threats related to climate change directly and indirectly affect mobility,” which is why the IOM is committed to “implementing a climate mobility agenda with a gender focus.”

“This region-wide effort (seeks) first to save lives, and second to protect the rights of female migrants, regardless of their immigration status, and to ensure that migration is safe, orderly, regular and dignified,” he stressed.