Migrants cross the Rio Grande into the United States in Eagle Pass, Texas as seen from Piedras Negras, Coahuila state, Mexico on August 4, 2023. (Photo by Guillermo Arias / AFP)
A record number of children from Latin America and the Caribbean are leaving their homes in search of a better life, risking disease, injury and abuse, a United Nations children’s agency (UNICEF) report said Wednesday, urging a stronger humanitarian response.
Driven by violence, destitution and severe weather, some 40,000 children crossed the perilous Darien jungle separating Central and South America last year, compared to 29,000 in 2021 and several times more than in previous years.
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In just the first six months of 2023, over 40,000 children made the dangerous journey, indicating the total number is likely to be much higher at the end of the year.
Six hundred of the children were unaccompanied.
“Gang violence, instability, poverty and climate-related events are, alarmingly, gripping the region and pushing more children from their homes,” UNICEF regional director Garry Conille said in a statement.
“When they cross several countries and sometimes the entire region, disease and injury, family separation and abuse may plague their journeys and, even if they make it to their destination, their futures often remain at risk,” Conille added.
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According to UNICEF, children represent a total of 25 percent of migrants in the region, a proportion now as high as in sub-Saharan Africa, compared to around 13 percent worldwide.
And children under 11 make up nearly 91 percent of the displaced children in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Conille urged the international community to commit to a “stronger humanitarian response as well as the expansion of safe and regular migration pathways for children and families to help protect their rights and their futures, no matter where they are from.”
Whether they come from South America, Africa or Asia, a large number of these migrants seek to reach Mexico, the United States and Canada.
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The number of children intercepted by the authorities at the southern border of the United States is also on the rise, UNICEF said.
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