Panama — Flow Monitoring of Migrant Population — Darién (May 2024)

The province of Darien is located on the eastern border of Panama and its territory is one of the migratory crossings most used by people on the move through the Americas, from the south to the north of the continent. This crossing is highly dangerous due to the geographical characteristics of the Darien National Park and the presence of organized crime. People who transit it are exposed to various risks such as human trafcking, smuggling, gender-based violence, various forms of exploitation and abuse. The use of these unsafe crossings to reach temporary or fnal destinations poses threats to the integrity, dignity, and lives of migrants.

Currently, Panama maintains the Operation Controlled Flow active, which provides humanitarian assistance and transfers hundreds of migrants daily from the Temporary Migrant Reception Centres (hereinafter, ETRM) in the province of Darien to the Temporary Attention Centre for Migrants (CATEM) in Costa Rica. The migrants enter through the communities of Bajo Chiquito and Canaan Membrillo, located in the Embera-Wounaan indigenous region in the interior of the province of Darien in Panama, and are transferred respectively to the diferent ETRMs.

Between 1 and 26 May 2024, 25,761 migrants were registered entering irregularly through the Darien jungle, representing an average of 954 daily entries. In April 2024, the total number of entries was 29,259, a decrease of 12 per cent compared to the previous month.