According to Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), armed bandits are taking advantage of the unprecedented volume of people traversing the 100 km-long Darién Gap, which connects Colombia and Panama, to kidnap and rape desperate migrants.
After they arrived in Panama without incident, the organization reported that it had treated 397 victims of sexual assault this year, many of them were minors. “Group rapes in tents set up for that purpose in the mountainous rainforest and swampland” have reportedly been reported.
The charity claims that this is the most recent instance of how the suffering of migrants in the Darién is becoming more commonplace, as the number far outweighs the 172 recorded in 2022. To safeguard migrants, MSF is pleading with the governments of Panama and Colombia to establish a strong security presence in the jungle.
In one of the horrifying accounts provided to MSF, migrants talked about how armed men would drag them into tents where they would rape them in front of other migrants.
“I witnessed numerous rapes. I witnessed them beaten and left nude,” a Venezuelan woman reported to MSF. “One, two, or three of them grab you and rape you; if you scream, they beat you, and then the next one comes and rapes you again.”
Some who attempted to protect the victims were killed or severely beaten; one such instance involved a small child who was shot in the head.
Similar reports have increased recently; in October alone, MSF treated 107 cases of sexual assault. The ages of the three recent rape survivors were eleven, twelve, and
As stated by Carmenza Gálvez, the MSF medical coordinator, “not everyone who experiences sexual violence receives timely attention due to the stigma against victims surrounding this form of violence, threats from perpetrators, forms of sexual violence not recognized as such, and the fact that people do not feel safe asking for help.” “There’s also the worry that reporting the crimes against them could cause a delay in their travels north.”
Historically, people have avoided the swampy jungles of Darién due to their hostile nature. Due to the lack of public transportation and state presence, armed drug-trafficking gangs are the de facto ruling class in the region.
Last year, at least 36 people lost their lives in the highland forests; many of them were victims of the sleep cliffs and raging rivers in the jungle.
It is still the only land-based route that links South America and Central America, though, and so far this year, 460,000 people—including 100,000 children—have crossed the Darién, more than tripling the 133,000 who did so in 2021. The majority of them are traveling to the US or other northern locations.
MSF is pleading with local governments to send more people into the deserted jungles in order to protect human rights and provide greater assistance to victims.
The majority of the violence, according to Bram Ebus, a consultant at the International Crisis Group think tank, takes place in the more lawless Panamanian side of the Darién. The Gulf Clan, Colombia’s biggest drug cartel, firmly polices the country’s border, exacting violent retribution on rapists to keep human rights violations from jeopardizing their profits from people-smuggling.
The security of migrants in the Darién could be greatly increased, according to Ebus, “if Colombia and Panama cooperate better to control migrant flows, along with increased state presence and improved access for humanitarian aid organizations.”