Venezuelan migrants take a break during their walk across the Darién Gap from Colombia to Panama, in hopes of reaching the US, May 9, 2023. © 2023 AP Photo/Ivan Valencia

In the last year-and-a-half, almost 700,000 people crossed the Darién Gap, a swampy jungle at the Colombia-Panama border, on their journey north, often to the United States. During their journey across this difficult terrain, Venezuelans, Haitians, and Ecuadorians, as well as people from countries in Asia and Africa, have experienced serious abuses, including sexual violence. Dozens, if not hundreds, have lost their lives or gone missing trying to cross. Many have never been found.


The situation in the Darién Gap is the result of a range of failed policies across the Americas.

Migrants and asylum seekers leave their countries of origin driven by violence, persecution, humanitarian crises, and other reasons, in search of protection or economic opportunities abroad. Movement restrictions like visa requirements by Mexico and Central American countries, often promoted by the United States, and limited pathways to regularize status and integrate in South America push many to cross the Darién Gap, exposing them to unchecked abuses and empowering organized crime.

Unchecked Abuses  

During their days-long walk across the jungle, migrants and asylum seekers of all nationalities frequently experience robbery and serious abuses, including sexual violence.

Most abuses appear to take place on the Panamanian side of the border. Perpetrators ambush migrants and asylum seekers at gunpoint, make people kneel or lie on the ground, and demand their money. Men often sexually assault women, often under the pretext of searching for hidden money, and in some cases rape them.

Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders or MSF) assisted 1,500 people who reported sexual violence while crossing the Darién between April 2021 and March 2024 when the Panamanian government suspended its work of in the Darién Gap. MSF considers the total number of survivors to be likely higher.

For more information on abuses in the Darién Gap click here

For more information on the limited response by Colombia and Panama click here.

The Role of Organized Crime  

Many migrants and asylum seekers crossing the Darién Gap had previously settled in countries in South America for long periods. However, limited and, at times, poor regularization and integration policies result in inadequate conditions or inability to obtain international protection, compelling many to head north. 

While some Latin American governments have made commendable efforts to receive migrants and asylum seekers, efforts to regularize migration in the region have often fallen short due to restrictive timelines, complex procedures, onerous document requirements, and administrative delays. Asylum systems also struggle with limited capacity, resulting in significant delays and an inconsistent application of the Cartagena Declaration, which grants broader protection for refugees and many countries have incorporated in their domestic legislation. While there have been some local initiatives to improve migrant integration, the absence of clear social and economic integration strategies has left many migrants without adequate jobs and facing challenges in accessing health care, housing, education, and social programs. Discrimination and xenophobia, including sexual violence, are increasingly common.

Key Regional Challenges for Migrants and Asylum Seekers

Click on the map to learn more about migration policies in South America and Panama. 

  • country of origin
  • transit country
  • host country
  • not examined for this report
Data: Darién Gap
country type access_to_regularization_and_asylum integration_efforts protection_of_transiting_migrants_through_the_darien_gap reason_to_flee for_more_information case_1 case_2
Brazil host country Haitians can access humanitarian and family reunification visas. Venezuelans are granted prima facie recognition as refugees. The 2018 voluntary interiorization program for Venezuelans–known as Operation Welcome (Operação Acolhida) – benefited over 134,000 people as of May 2024. It improved access to jobs, housing, and education, proving to be a key factor in strengthening the economic inclusion of Venezuelans in Brazil. Persisting integration problems are related to unemployment and low wages, often stemming from discrimination and limited recognition of skills and qualifications. https://www.hrw.org/americas/brazil Louis Gerard (pseudonym) crossed the Gap in 2023 with his wife, sister, and 4-year-old son, after living six years in Porto Alegre, Brazil. In 2016, Louis left Haiti, leaving his parents and brothers behind. He chose Brazil because “even if it was far, they received migrants well.” In Brazil, Louis worked several jobs to send money back to Haiti and to raise his son, a Brazilian national. Things got hard after the Covid-19 pandemic broke, Louis said, and his boss did not pay him for several months. “There is labor abuse against us. They pay us less,” he said. They left in February 2023 because “Brazil left us with no options.” Bandits robbed them as they crossed the Gap, leaving them without money or food.
Chile host country Access to regular status is a significant challenge in Chile, with a very low number of asylum seekers obtaining refugee status. Currently there is no open regularization process for migrants in irregular status. Prior regularization efforts, conducted in 2018 and 2021, granted Venezuelans and Haitians a legal status for a short period of time and because of their stringent conditions, only benefited a small portion of people. Chile adopted a 2023 national policy on migration focusing on regular migration, economic development, family reunification, as well as a security and border control component. Migrants and asylum seekers in Chile face significant challenges in accessing public services and securing formal jobs, largely due to limited access to regularization programs. Anti-migrant sentiment and discrimination have increased in recent years, due to an unfounded belief that migrants have increased crime. https://www.hrw.org/americas/chile In March 2023, Miriam Lebrun (pseudonym), 39, and her 16-year-old daughter, Joy, found themselves waiting in Bajo Chiquito, Panama, for four days, hoping to secure canoes for the next leg of their journey north. Miriam and Joy, both Haitian, had left Chile, where they had lived for six years, and were hoping to reach the US, where Miram’s husband had been living for a year and a half. During her time in Chile, Miriam worked in a restaurant but could not regularize her immigration status. Her income was low, she said. Joy was excelling in school, but lack of regular status deprived her of opportunities, including a school trip abroad. The inability to regularize their status in Chile drove them to cross the Darién Gap, hoping they could obtain better employment and access to education in the US. Joy emphasized that they would have preferred to avoid crossing the Darién Gap if they had an alternative. Miguel González (pseudonym) left Venezuela in 2018 seeking a better life due to food shortages. “I’ve been to many countries,” he told Human Rights Watch outside a makeshift tent in a migrant settlement in Apartadó, Colombia. He lived in Chile for several years, sending the little money he earned to his daughter in Venezuela, but faced difficulties obtaining regular status and encountered discrimination. “It’s impossible to get documents there,” he said. “They think all Venezuelans are criminals because of the Tren de Aragua,” a criminal group that emerged in Venezuela and operates in several countries in the region.
Colombia origin, host and transit country Access to asylum is challenging because the system is overwhelmed, and asylum seekers are not authorized to work. Authorities have passed important legislation to regularize Venezuelan migrants, including a landmark 10-year temporary protection status that benefited over 2 million Venezuelans. However, other foreign nationals and Venezuelans who have entered irregularly after January 2021 or regularly after May 2023 have no means to regularize their stay other than ordinary visas, which are costly. Colombia played a leading role in developing policies and institutions to receive and integrate migrants and refugees, but limited resources for mayor’s offices that first respond to migration and the dismantling of a national authority coordinating immigration policy have undermined integration efforts. Migrants face challenges accessing employment, validating professional diplomas and degrees, as well as discrimination. Colombia lacks a clear strategy to protect migrants and asylum seekers crossing the Darién Gap, where the Gulf Clan exploits them for profit. Colombian government efforts to investigate the Gulf Clan in the region have yielded minimal results. The government does not have reliable data on the number of migrants crossing and their needs, which hinders the effective provision of food, water, and sanitation. Local mayor’s offices lack the capacity to handle the influx due to insufficient expertise, personnel, and resources. https://www.hrw.org/report/2024/04/03/neglected-jungle/inadequate-protection-and-assistance-migrants-and-asylum-seekers Gabriela Pizarro (pseudonym) arrived in Apartadó in mid-June 2024 with 11 others, including her husband, her daughter, and her in-laws. In Venezuela, she said they often lacked drinking water and faced power outages. Gabriela could not earn enough to afford food priced in dollars. “Here we sleep on the street, but we always find something to eat, unlike in Venezuela,” she said. They initially planned to cross the Darién, but later realized they couldn’t afford the trip. Gabriela said she was willing to stay in Colombia, but every job she applied for required a regular status, for which she was ineligible. “I would stay, but without the permit maybe is best for us to make the money [for the trip across the Darién] and leave,” she said.
Ecuador origin and host country Despite a progressive constitutional and legal framework, many migrants and asylum seekers in Ecuador struggle to obtain regular status. Authorities discourage people from seeking asylum and authorities fail to consistently apply the protection grounds set forth in the Cartagena Declaration. A 2022 regularization process granted a two-year legal status for over 95,000 foreign nationals, mainly Venezuelans, but the process is currently closed. In August 2024 the government extended the regularization process to allow Venezuelans who had registered within the established deadlines but did not obtain their visa to do so. Unemployment and salaries below the poverty line push many migrants and asylum seekers, as well as Ecuadorians, to leave. Venezuelan women, in particular, face gender-based violence, including sexual violence and harassment, stemming from discrimination and xenophobia. Insecurity and crime also undermine integration efforts. The surge in Ecuadorian migrants and asylum seekers has been fueled by a sharp rise in crime and violence in Ecuador, with record rates of homicide and extortion. Multidimensional poverty—meaning deprivation in education and basic infrastructure as well as monetary poverty—and the lack of adequate employment are also key factors. https://www.hrw.org/americas/ecuador Livia González (pseudonym), 26, fled Ecuador after her mother was stabbed and killed in 2023. She arrived in Bajo Chiquito, Panama, holding the hand of her 5-year-old daughter and carrying her 6-month-old son on her back. Livia told Human Rights Watch that her mother had owned a small business in southern Quito selling tripas, a traditional Ecuadorian dish of beef or pork intestines. For more than two months, she had endured extortion by two men who appeared to be associated with criminal gangs. When her mother refused to pay, she was killed. The same men came to extort Livia, she said. She did not report to the police because she felt they “could do nothing about it.” Instead, she fled with her children. Crossing the Darién was hard, she said. She lost her identification documents, and her 5-year-old developed sores on her legs from the long trek in plastic boots. But Livia said she would do it again because she is “too afraid of Ecuador.” Carlos Salinas (pseudonym) and his partner, Rosa (pseudonym), a young couple from Maracaibo, Venezuela, arrived in Ecuador in 2019. Carlos never obtained legal status because his Venezuelan passport, required to regularize his status, was stolen shortly after they arrived, and he could not afford to replace it. Rosa had a visa and gave birth to their third child in Ecuador. Both studied—Carlos phone repairing and Rosa cosmetology—but faced discrimination and struggled to find stable and adequate employment. Carlos said employers often failed to pay him for days of work. Rosa said she faced sexual harassment. They decided to leave Ecuador to the United States due to gang violence. They said their children were scared to go to school.
Haiti country of origin Haiti has faced a prolonged political crisis, which has left the country without any democratically elected officials and unable to ensure security and access to essential services for its population. About 300 criminal groups now control much of the capital, Port-au-Prince, and its metropolitan area, resulting in nearly 3,500 deaths in the first half of 2024. This violence has forced nearly 600,000 people into internal displacement between January and June, with criminal groups frequently using sexual violence, including collective rape, and kidnappings to terrorize and control neighborhoods. Haiti is also facing a catastrophic humanitarian situation, with 5.5 million people, nearly half of the population, in need, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). 4.97 million people face acute food insecurity, with 1.65 million at emergency levels. The deepening crisis means that many Haitians living abroad need to send more remittances to their families, pushing many to leave South America for better paid jobs. https://www.hrw.org/americas/haiti After criminal group members killed his father in 2016 for refusing to pay the extortion they demanded at his grocery store in Port-au-Prince, Beatrice Mathieu (pseudonym) left her two daughters in Haiti and headed to Brazil, following her husband who left in 2014. They then left Brazil in 2022 because they did not earn enough money to send to their daughters, who lived in Haiti. Beatrice was never able to find a job in Brazil. She crossed the Darién with her husband, hoping to live in Mexico, where friends had promised them jobs. André Luc (pseudonym) worked in Les Cayes, in south Haiti, selling merchandise on the streets until 2017, when he said criminal groups began frequently extorting him. He fled to Chile where he worked in several jobs. In 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic, he lost his job and began selling merchandise on the streets. Human Rights Watch interviewed him, now 36 years old, in Necoclí, Colombia, as he prepared to cross the Darién with his wife who was 7-months pregnant. They had left their 11-year-old daughter in Haiti with André’s brother and parents. They hoped to get to the US, find work, and send money to their family in Haiti.
Panamá transit country The asylum system is inadequate and under-resourced. Processing timelines are long, particularly at the admissibility stage. In 2023, the government established a US$950 two-year temporary permit for migrants with irregular status who had lived in the country for over a year. Otherwise, Panama offers limited regularization pathways or complementary protection for those denied refugee status. Migrants and refugees still face barriers accessing basic services, including education. Panamanian law excludes foreigners from practicing certain professions. For years, the government’s “controlled flow” strategy focused on restricting the free movement of migrants and asylum seekers within Panama and seeking their swift exit to Costa Rica, rather than on addressing their needs. Since President José Raul Mulino took office on July 1, 2024, he has restricted the flow through several migration routes in the Darién and promised to “repatriate” migrants. Panama and the US announced an agreement to “remove foreign nationals who do not have a legal basis to remain in Panama” through a deportation program funded by the United States. Given Panama’s inadequate and under resourced asylum system, large-scale removal of asylum seekers raises concerns both that it would violate Panama’s legal obligation to respect the principle of nonrefoulement and that the US would shirk its responsibilities by essentially outsourcing its migration controls to a country with demonstrably less capacity to provide full and fair consideration of asylum claims. Indigenous communities, where migrants and asylums seekers first arrive after crossing the border, receive little government support. Inadequate migrant reception stations, limited state capacity, inadequate water and sanitation, and strained health facilities undermine protection for transiting migrants. Most abuses in the Darién Gap, including pervasive sexual violence, go uninvestigated and unpunished. https://www.hrw.org/report/2024/04/03/neglected-jungle/inadequate-protection-and-assistance-migrants-and-asylum-seekers
Peru origin and host country The asylum system is slow, and authorities do not consistently apply the Cartagena Declaration, although it is included in Peru’s domestic legislation. Peru has, on several occasions, announced an extraordinary process to regularize migrants’ status in the country, but only a few people have applied, in part due to fear of being deported. Migrants in Peru, particularly Venezuelans, face increased vulnerabilities and obstacles to integration, particularly in the labor market, which is largely informal and offers low pay. Migrants and asylum seekers often face food insecurity. Venezuelan women, in particular, face gender-based violence, including sexual violence and harassment, stemming from discrimination and xenophobia. https://www.hrw.org/americas/peru Danina, 29, and Leopoldo Pizarro, 30 (pseudonyms), 29, left Aragua, Venezuela to Peru, in 2018. Due to limited availability of medicines and what she described as a “precarious situation” In hospitals, Danina struggled to get treatment for cancer, although her family had sold their car to pay for the treatment. They found jobs in Surco, a district in the south of Lima, where they suffered high levels of xenophobia and, in the case of Danina, sexual harassment. Men would take photos of Danina in the street and whenever she complained, they would respond with xenophobic sentiments, like telling her to return to her country. “You are stigmatized for being a Venezuelan woman,” Danina said. She was fearful and said she felt depressed. “I was so afraid that every time I got into a taxi, I would send the car plates to my husband,” she said. Eventually, the company that she worked for closed, and she became unemployed. Leopoldo rented a car and worked as an Uber driver. Unknown men started extorting him by phone or by leaving threatening papers in the car. They said they would take his car if he did not pay them US$1,200. They decided to leave Peru for the United States.
Venezuela country of origin Over 20 million Venezuelans, out of a population of 28.8 million, live in multidimensional poverty, according to HumVenezuela, an independent platform of civil society organizations. This ongoing humanitarian crisis limits access to food and medicine, forcing many to adopt extreme survival strategies, such as stretching their budget, increasing their workload, exchanging them for sex or fleeing the country. Others flee persecution and human rights violations by government authorities, including arbitrary detentions, extrajudicial executions, forced disappearances, and torture, as well as abuses by armed groups and gangs. https://www.hrw.org/americas/venezuela Damaris Pinto (pseudonym), a 27-year-old Venezuelan, decided to cross the Darién Gap in 2024 with her partner and their 4-year-old son after discovering she was pregnant with their second child. Damaris said this decision was driven by the “dire economic situation” in Venezuela, where food prices continue to rise while wages remain stagnant, and government food boxes, known as “cajas CLAP,” are insufficient. “The hardest thing to get is food,” she explained. In Necoclí, Colombia, Damaris went into labor and delivered her baby girl via C-section. After spending 10 days in the hospital, they were discharged. But they had no money, had to take care of her baby, and she was still recovering from surgery. They slept in a tent on a beach in Necoclí, hoping to find a way to stay in Colombia. Bolívar Cepeda (pseudonym), 29, told Human Rights Watch he could not bring himself to obey orders to shoot Indigenous protestors “if they resisted.” He had worked for 10 years for the Bolivarian National Guard (Guardia Nacional Bolivariana) when, in 2021, he was assigned to Santa Elena de Guairén, a mining town close to the border with Brazil, where people were demonstrating to protest conflicts with gangs who controlled the gold mines. After two days of being ordered to crack down against demonstrators, Cepeda abandoned his unit, crossing the border on foot to Brazil, he said. Brazilian federal police assisted him. He left Brazil in late 2022, seeking to join his brother in the US, where he was hoping to find a better job. He crossed the Darién, arriving in Panama in January 2023. Cepeda feared he could be prosecuted for “treason” if he returned to Venezuela.

Human Rights Watch recommends:

  • Implementing a region-wide temporary protection regime that would grant all Venezuelans and Haitians legal status for a for fixed but renewable terms of adequate duration, even if they may not qualify for refugee status under domestic law.
  • Reversing measures such as onerous visa requirements that are preventing access to asylum and forcing people into dangerous crossings like the Darién Gap.
  • Creating an equitable regional mechanism to determine the states responsible for examining asylum claims and protecting refugees, taking into account as far as possible individual factors such as social or family ties and individual preferences of applicants. The mechanism should include measures to overcome barriers that push migrants and asylum seekers to leave host countries—such as legal sponsorship, access to housing, and promptly obtaining work permits while asylum applications are pending review—while distributing costs fairly and providing states with incentives to share this responsibility.