Children on the move and those affected by armed violence in Latin America appeal

Children in Latin American and the Caribbean continue to be affected by numerous crises: mixed migration, armed violence, public health emergencies, deteriorating socioeconomic conditions and climate-related disasters. Systemic gender inequalities heighten the risks for women and girls, with more than one in six girls experiencing rape or sexual assault in childhood. These crises, coupled with constrained national emergency response capacities, have traumatic effects on vulnerable children and families. An estimated 14.3 million people, including 4.7 million children, will require humanitarian assistance in 2025 due to mixed migration movements and armed violence across the region. 

Migration in the region has evolved into a true child crisis. Children account for 25 per cent of the migrant population, including those who are repatriated or deported back to their countries of origin. In 2024, migration, driven by violence, climate change and socioeconomic inequalities has surged across the region. The number of refugees and migrants from the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela alone had surpassed 6 million by mid-2024. Some countries along typical migration routes had recorded an increase of more than 50 per cent in the number of irregular migrant entries. 

Meanwhile, between January and August 2024 more than 50,000 children crossed the Darién Gap during their migration journeys. Of these children, around 3,800 were unaccompanied or separated children, a significant increase compared with 2023. Since 2020, the percentage of unaccompanied and separated children crossing the Darién Gap has increased tenfold. Moreover, stricter border and visa regulations are leading children and families to use irregular migration pathways, increasing their exposure to violence, abuse and trafficking. This trend is expected to continue in 2025, alongside rising xenophobia and stigmatization in host communities. 

Armed violence doesn't just act as a catalyst for migration, it also severely disrupts children’s lives in other ways. The region is home to a quarter of global homicides and homicide is the leading cause of death among adolescent boys aged 10–19 in the region. Femicide also remains high, with more than 3,000 women and girls murdered in 2023 in 27 countries in the region. Several Mexican cities have the highest global homicide rates. Meanwhile, homicide rates continue to rise in Guatemala; and recent surges in violence have been reported in Costa Rica and Ecuador. Violence deprives children of their rights and prevents their access to essential services. It also heightens the risk of children's forced recruitment into armed groups, where they can experience exploitation, family separation and severe psychological impacts.

In 2025, UNICEF will further enhance its humanitarian response in 17 countries (Belize, the Plurinational State of Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago and Turks and Caicos) where the majority of migrant and refugee populations are located and where humanitarian needs are most critical. Recognizing the regional scope of the crisis and the complexity of mixed migration flows, UNICEF has merged its two subregional migration Humanitarian Action for Children appeals into a cohesive regional appeal that builds on successful practices and outcomes from previous years. 

In Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico, UNICEF will implement multisectoral interventions to address the humanitarian needs of children and adolescents in communities severely affected by armed violence, recruitment, exploitation, limited services, family separation and the severe psychological impacts of these crises. UNICEF will strengthen its response for those facing rapidly increasing levels of violence by providing critical assistance in all sectors – child protection, education, health and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) – alongside social protection and gender-based violence prevention initiatives. 

UNICEF's interventions will be informed by gender analysis to address the unique risks and needs of women and girls. Special efforts will enhance accountability to affected populations, ensuring services are age-, gender- and disability-appropriate. UNICEF aims to enhance the consistency, coherence and efficiency of its humanitarian response for children on the move in the Latin America and Caribbean region by ensuring a minimum package of humanitarian services across all sectors and in countries along migration routes.

UNICEF will address the pressing needs of migrants, including internally displaced and repatriated or deported migrants, whose humanitarian needs often go overlooked. UNICEF will also address the needs of host communities in priority areas. This effort will involve coordination with governments, United Nations organizations and other partners. Advocacy for the rights of children and families on the move, ensuring access to essential life-saving services and prioritizing child protection in humanitarian action will all be critical. 

Additionally, UNICEF will reinforce interventions to promote social inclusion, integration and prevention of xenophobia by enhancing social policies, strengthening national and local capacities, supporting the regularization of children’s and families’ legal status and ensuring access to social services for sustainable solutions. 

In 2025, UNICEF will continue to lead and co-lead inter-agency sectoral/cluster humanitarian coordination for migration and other crises at regional and national levels, focusing on child protection, education, nutrition and WASH. UNICEF will continue to strengthen strategic coordination with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Organization for Migration.