A/HRC/59/49/Add.2 7. As a country of transit, origin and destination, with seasonal and cross-border movements of the Ngäbe-Buglé Indigenous community to Costa Rica, Panama is home to approximately 316,000 migrants and refugees. In recent years, over a million people, in mixed movements, have crossed the jungle in the Darién region, heading north. The movements are dynamic. The large number of new arrivals has posed significant challenges to Panama, particularly for communities living in the Darién region, where migrant and refugee populations irregularly cross the green border. The arrival of migrants and refugees in these communities has reshaped the cultural, socioeconomic and environmental realities in the Darién region, requiring adaptive responses from local communities, authorities and humanitarian and human rights actors. While mixed movement in transit presents logistical and protection challenges, it has also generated new economic activities and interactions between migrants and local populations, influencing the socioeconomic landscape of the area. 8. The mixed movement of people from south to north is influenced by multiple factors, making it premature to reach a definitive conclusion about emerging trends. However, current data indicates that the number of people crossing the Darién region has decreased significantly. According to the National Migration Service, over 520,000 individuals crossed the Darién region in 2023. In 2024, this number had dropped by 40 per cent. In January 2025, 2,229 individuals entered Panama via the Darién region, a decrease of 94 per cent compared to the same period in the previous year. 9. At the time of the visit of the Special Rapporteur, the phenomenon of migrants and refugees travelling north to south reaching the border between Costa Rica and Panama had become evident. Another trend that caught the attention of the Special Rapporteur was that of the flights carrying deported individuals from the United States of America to Panama. The Special Rapporteur was informed that there were 299 individuals in those flights, including women and children. New dimensions had consequently been added to the already complex dynamics of human mobility in the country. III. Normative and institutional framework for the protection of the human rights of migrants A. International legal framework 10. Panama is a signatory to a number of core international instruments relating to the human rights of migrants. It is party to the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and the Protocol thereto, the Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Optional Protocol thereto, the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Optional Protocols thereto, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, with reservations, and the Protocols thereto. 11. Panama has acceded to the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming to the abolition of the death penalty. It has also acceded the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. However, Panama is not party to the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families. 12. In the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted in 2015, States recognized the contribution of migration to sustainable development. In 2018, the General Assembly adopted the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, which covered all dimensions of international migration in a holistic manner. The Global Compact for Migration is consistent with target 10.7 of the Sustainable Development Goals, on GE.2506871 3