New ‘Human Mobility Observatory’ to monitor Darién migration route

• This observatory is the first to monitor the area from the Urabá region of Colombia to the southern border of Costa Rica.
• It is made up of local, regional and international organisations of different kinds, which allows for a cross-border and multidisciplinary understanding of the dynamics in the region.

 

More than 15 civil society organisations, think tanks and academia have launched the Human Mobility Observatory of the Darien and other alternate routes, with the aim of monitoring the human rights situation along this migratory route. Its creation responds to the need to understand in greater depth the multiplicity of challenges faced by people in a situation of human mobility who transit through the Darién region and to work collectively to guarantee the protection of their rights.

Through monitoring, the Observatory aims to share accurate and updated information that facilitates the understanding and approach to these migratory dynamics. It also aims to raise policy and practice recommendations based on the findings, addressed to all stakeholders, especially the States involved, with the intention of alerting on human rights violations and providing inputs to improve the development of comprehensive responses.

‘The Darién is one of the most dangerous routes in Latin America and those who pass through it find themselves in situations of extreme vulnerability. It is essential to remember that states, including transit states, have the obligation to guarantee access to fundamental rights, such as shelter, health, food, among others. However, migration policies are currently forcing migrants to take other routes, for example by sea, which further expose their integrity and their lives. In this sense, it is necessary to explore alternatives that provide greater protection for their rights,’ said Claudia Paz y Paz, director of the Central America and Mexico programme of the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL).

During 2023, more than 500,000 people migrated along this route with their final destination in the United States. However, the Panamanian authorities estimate that in 2024 the number could be at least 20% higher, exceeding approximately 600,000 people. Added to this are the various forms of violence experienced along the route, such as forced disappearances and robberies perpetrated by armed groups. One alarming aspect is the increase in reports of sexual violence in the Darién: 328 registered this year by Médecins Sans Frontières up to March, compared to 676 for the whole of 2023. In addition, this year, 113 cases were documented in a single week in February.

Furthermore, the agreements signed between Panama and the United States have already begun to be implemented, whereby migrants in an irregular situation are deported by air to their countries of origin, seriously compromising their chances of adequate access to humanitarian assistance and the right to asylum.

In this regard, the Observatory urges States to create measures that address the needs of people in a situation of human mobility in the Darien and other alternative routes, and to understand the complexities of their realities in order to promote long-term, functional, human rights-based solutions.

‘The Darién is not only an extremely high-risk transit point on a continental route of forced migrants, but also an expression of the political, socio-environmental, economic, protection and integration crises that our region is experiencing. This route goes beyond Colombia or Panama and therefore requires a real commitment from the states of the region to guarantee the rights of people, their protection and dignity. What is happening in the Darién should lead us to question the cost of ineffective policies; statistics show that containment and militarisation have not stopped migration; on the contrary, they increase the risks and violence to which people are exposed in transit. As long as a single person’s dignity is violated or dies on the way, the policies should be considered a failure’, said María Teresa Urueña, advocacy officer of the Jesuit Network with Migrants (RJM – LAC).

The Darien Observatory calls on States, governmental organisations and other relevant actors to join these dialogues to jointly build an approach that respects human rights and promotes protective, informed and accompanied mobility.

The participating organisations that so far make up the observatory are:

• AfroResistencia
• Asociación Centro de Derechos Laborales sin Fronteras de Costa Rica (Centre for Labour Rights without Borders of Costa Rica)
• Asociación Promoción Claretiana para el Desarrollo
• CENDEROS
• Centro de Estudios de Derecho, Justicia y Sociedad (Dejusticia) (Centre for the Study of Law, Justice and Society)
• Center for Gender & Refugee Studies (CGRS)
• Centre for Justice and International Law (CEJIL)
• Consultoría para los Derechos Humanos y el Desplazamiento-CODHES (Consultancy for Human Rights and Displacement-CODHES)
• Espacio Encuentro de Mujeres (Women’s Encounter Space)
• Ideas for Peace Foundation (FIP)
• Fundación Refugiados Unidos (United Refugees Foundation)
• Institute on Migration and Refugee LGTBIQ for Central America IRCA CASABIERTA
• International Detention Coalition
• Franciscan Migrant Network
• Jesuit Network with Migrants (RJM – LAC)
• The Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA)
• Human Mobility and International Protection Observatory attached to the GAPI Legal Clinic of the Universidad Icesi, Cali, Colombia.