Red Clamor warns: More than 57% of migrants who cross the Darién are exposed to armed groups

The Clamor Network, which brings together more than 600 Catholic organizations, has warned that in the Darién jungle “more than 57% of the population is under the influence of some Non-State Armed Group (GANE)”, running the risk of being victim of trafficking or forced recruitment.

This network, which works for migrants and refugees in Latin America and the Caribbean, launched the alert during the meeting held from July 23 to 26 in Necoclí, the Colombian municipality where hundreds of people arrive weekly and from there leave for this jungle, shared with Panama, and which is part of the route to reach the United States.

This meeting was attended by the Bishop of Apartadó (Colombia), Mons. Carlos Alberto Correa; representatives of the Cáritas of Colombia, Venezuela and Panama; pastoral agents, religious women, political authorities, among others.

According to the Ombudsman of Colombiain 2023 more than 520,000 people crossed this territory. Of them, 406,905 were adults and 113,180 were minors, increasing by 110% compared to 2022.

Regarding nationalities, 328,650 were Venezuelans, 57,250 Ecuadorians, 46,422 Haitians, 25,565 Chinese, 18,841 Colombians, and thousands of others from different countries.

A place where armed conflict converges

In Darién, one of the regions where armed groups operate, the presence of the Gaitanista Self-Defense Forces of Colombia—also called Clan del Golfo—has been confirmed, an organization involved in drug trafficking and “that controls the flow of migrants and asylum seekers.” , according to the report published in April 2024 by Human Rights Watch.

In this sense, Red Clamor asked the authorities to guarantee the protection of international humanitarian and refugee rights, since migrants are exposed to “restrictions on mobility, social control, instrumentalization of the population, forced recruitment, arbitrary detentions and threats.”

A population of which 80% migrate due to lack of employment in their places of origin, low resources, lack of food “and the massive violation of human rights,” according to figures from Cáritas Colombia.

Children are victims too

According to information from the United Nationsin the first four months of 2024 more than 30,000 minors have crossed the Darién, which “represents an increase of 40% compared to the same period in 2023 and, if the trend continues, it would mean that 160,000 children and adolescents would make the crossing. “risky journey for the end of the year.”

This situation was highlighted at the Necoclí meeting by the Salesian Congregation, which indicated that in this municipality migrant children and adolescents usually remain between 3 to 6 months without “access to education, health, nutrition, recreation and free time.” , in addition to suffering abuse and discrimination.

In addition, he denounced that, according to statements from parents, competent authorities have allowed the departure of minors “without authorization from both parents, a situation that calls into question the adequate implementation of the processes and controls established by Immigration.”

For this reason, he urged the Second Commission of the House of Representatives – present at the meeting – to intercede so that the Colombian Institute of Family Welfare, Colombian Migration and other competent institutions “report on the programs they execute in the Gulf of Urabá to guarantee compliance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child.”

May this meeting not be in vain

Elvy Monzant Arraga, executive secretary of the CLAMOR LAC Network, asked that the meeting “not be a vain exercise of words without commitment, but rather the space from which the foundations of inclusive public programs and policies will emerge in favor of the life and dignity of people in human mobility.”

“In Necoclí, like in many other places in the world, the migrant is turned into a commodity that with his hunger feeds a perverse economy, under the complicit gaze of those who, being able to avoid it, remain only in promises and speeches, or worse still, “They turn blind to receive their share of the scandalous profits generated by trafficking in human beings,” he said.

For this reason, the Network has presented a series of proposals to the authorities to provide migrants with comprehensive care, however, it warned that this will not be possible “if multidimensional needs and social problems exist in the host communities.”

One of the requests is that the dialogues with armed groups include “the cessation of actions that violate the rights of migrants and the population in general, in particular human trafficking and smuggling in the context of violence and the armed conflict that is taking place in the region.”

“From our charisms,” the Clamor Network has expressed, “we have wanted to be a Church that comes to the meeting as Mother of all people, especially those who suffer the most and we cannot remain silent in the face of the historical forgetfulness of our native communities and the sectors of the “periphery to their right to be part of a country that seems to be for a few.”