More Children Than Ever Are Crossing the Dangerous Darien Gap to Reach the US
“Each child crossing the Darién Gap on foot is a survivor.”
EG
By Emily Green
October 15, 2021, 9:52am
A HAITIAN MIGRANT WOMAN CARRIES A GIRL AS THEY CROSS THE JUNGLE OF THE DARIEN GAP, NEAR ACANDI, CHOCO DEPARTMENT, COLOMBIA, HEADING TO PANAMA, ON SEPTEMBER 26, 2021, ON THEIR WAY TRYING TO REACH THE US. PHOTO BY RAUL ARBOLEDA / AFP)
The number of migrant children crossing the Darién Gap, one of the world’s most dangerous stretches of land linking Colombia to Panama, has soared to an all-time high, warned UNICEF, the United Nations agency for children. Half of the children are younger than five.
The skyrocketing numbers underscore the risks migrants are willing to make in their efforts to reach the U.S. The 66-mile long roadless stretch of jungle is a well-traveled path for migrants and also one of the world’s most terrifying.
Hundreds if not thousands die every year of hunger and dehydration as they try to walk across. Criminal gangs prey on desperate travelers.
Nearly 19,000 migrant children crossed the Darién Gap between January and September this year, three times the number who crossed over the previous five years combined. At least five children died, and more than 150 have arrived in Panama without their parents, UNICEF said this week. The agency added that it recorded 29 reports of sexual assault of adolescent girls during the journey.
More:
https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7b8ym/un-warns-more-migrant-children-crossing-darien-gap
Much more realistic photos of the Gap in the link below. It's doubtful the photographer for the article went into the Darién Gap itself.
Darién Gap, Panama: https://tinyurl.com/xdafjrvc
Darién Gap, Colombia: https://tinyurl.com/r9hub26h
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