UN bodies call for urgent action over Panama’s Darién Gap migration route

UN Refugee Agency and IOM urge steps - including more legal pathways for migrants - to curb humanitarian crisis

International bodies have called for urgent intervention in the Darien Gap to prevent a further escalation of a humanitarian crisis as new figures showed that record numbers of people are risking their lives to cross the lawless 100-mile stretch of rainforest between Panama and Colombia.

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) also called for the creation of more legal pathways to migrate to the US in order to help reduce irregular migration.