A/HRC/59/49/Add.2 attention to the intersectional and cross-border nature of this phenomenon in the shared Darién region of Panama and Colombia. Depending on economic status, country of origin, age, gender and sexual orientation, migrants may have different experiences along the migration route, and some may be subject to heightened risks. Although a decrease has been observed in recent months in the number of people travelling from the south through the Darién region, sexual and gender-based violence against people in mixed movements, particularly women and girls, remains persistent in the jungle. The reduced number of migrants, and the consequently decreased presence of the National Border Service, may lead to even heightened risks for migrant and refugee populations and for local women and girls. 33. Between 2019 and 2024, the Regional Prosecutor’s Office in Darién Province investigated 189 cases of sexual and gender-based violence, which resulted in 44 criminal convictions. Based on the information provided by relevant authorities, the 44 persons convicted included members of various Indigenous communities. However, the number of convictions in past years does not seem to correspond to the scale of the violence and crimes in the jungle. Impunity prevails and most crimes are committed without punishment. 34. While in the Darién region, the Special Rapporteur was informed that the Public Prosecutor’s Office had established an office in Bajo Chiquito to receive complaints from migrants and the host community. In addition, protocols had been established between the National Border Service and medical teams present in Bajo Chiquito to refer suspected cases of sexual and gender-based violence to the Public Prosecutor’s Office. However, investigations were conducted at the local level only, by prosecutors from Metetí and other local offices, with insufficient support from the Public Prosecutor’s Office. 35. Victims’ testimonies indicate that the perpetrators of most of the robberies and sexual and gender-based violence committed against migrants were identified as men from the local communities, sometimes in the company of men whose accents suggested that they were from Colombia or the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. Reports indicate a possible linkage between the increase in consumption of drugs and alcohol among the local communities and the rise in criminality in the jungle. Incidents allegedly take place not far from local communities. It is believed that some perpetrators are known to the locals. 36. Various factors – including victims’ lack of trust and fear of being deported, detained or slowed down as a result of participating in any judicial investigation, cultural barriers, self-preservation interests and high tolerance of crimes among local communities, and a lack of sufficient resources and capacity among prosecutors in Darién Province – have led to near total impunity for such crimes. 3. Children and adolescents, including unaccompanied and separated children 37. According to official data, in 2023, Panama provided assistance to a total of 356 children and adolescents, aged between 0 and 17 years, of whom 149 were unaccompanied and 207 were separated. In 2024, a total of 187 children and adolescents were assisted by Panama, of whom 48 were unaccompanied and 139 were separated. Approximately one in five persons who crossed the jungle in the Darién region were children under the age of 18. It is worth noting that UNICEF provides life-saving services to children through its Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for All initiative, health and nutrition services for children and mothers, and the Child-Friendly Spaces and the Cool Zone, in Bajo Chiquito and Lajas Blancas, where psychosocial services are provided. All services provided are also available to local children. 38. In Metetí, the Special Rapporteur visited a shelter established by the National Secretariat for Children, Adolescents and the Family, with the support of UNICEF, for unaccompanied and separated children. At this shelter, migrant and Panamanian children, under child protection measures, are cared for by social workers and caretakers. The Special Rapporteur notes with pleasure that unaccompanied and separated migrant children are integrated into national protection mechanisms. GE.2506871 7