Doctors Without Borders on Thursday denounced a sharp rise in sexual violence committed against migrants who undertake the dangerous trek through the Darien jungle between Colombia and Panama on their way to the United States.
"The level of brutality is extreme," Luis Eguiluz, the group's head of mission in Panama and Colombia, said in a statement. Armed men along the migration route are detaining ever larger groups of migrants, "threatening them, assaulting them, systematically sexually abusing women, in front of other migrants and even in front of their families and children," Eguiluz said. In one recent episode, "several migrants have told us how those who refused to cooperate were shot dead."
Doctors Without Borders, or MSF (Médecins Sans Frontières), has stationed volunteers to assist migrants as they emerge from the jungle. The organization has expressed outrage at the "impunity" with which criminal groups operate in the Darien region. It also urged the Panamanian authorities to redouble efforts to protect the most vulnerable people "on their territory." "Many of them are families, women, and children, in desperate situations. It is unacceptable that this continues to happen."
Despite its dangers, the 165-mile (265-kilometer) Darien Gap has become a key corridor for migrants heading from South America through Central America and Mexico in hopes of reaching the United States and a chance at a better life there.
They face treacherous terrain, wild animals, and the threat of violent criminal gangs that extort, kidnap, and abuse them along the way. "These outrageous crimes are on the increase and, what's worse, nobody seems to care," said Eguiluz.