RECORD numbers of children are making perilous solo journeys through Latin America and the Caribbean, the United Nations children’s agency reported on Thursday.

Unicef said that over the last three years the proportion of children moving along the major migration routes in Latin America and the Caribbean has climbed to a record high of 25 per cent, up from 19 per cent in 2019. 

It is estimated that children make up around 13 per cent of global migrants and the numbers in Latin America and the Caribbean are rivalled only by sub-Saharan Africa, where children also account for 25 per cent of the migrant population.

Unicef’s Latin America and Caribbean director Gary Conille told the media that child migration’s driving forces encompass factors such as gang violence, the escalating effects of climate change and worsening inequalities and poverty, magnified by the Covid pandemic and subsequent lockdowns. 

He said children in the region are migrating at an increasingly young age: under-11s now account for up to 91 per cent of youngsters at some key transit points.

Unicef said that on one of the most dangerous jungle routes, via the Darien Gap between Colombia and Panama, at least 29,000 children made the perilous crossing in 2021, an estimated 40,000 in 2022 and over 60,000 in the first eight months of 2023 — half of them under the age of five, so this year already holds the record for the most child crossings.

When children traverse several countries, Mr Conille said, “disease and injury, family separation and abuse may plague their journeys and, even if they make it to their destination, their futures often remain at risk.”

According to the alert, the number of refugee and migrant children apprehended at the United States’ southern border has also increased.

US customs and border protection recorded over 149,000 children crossing in during 2021, more than 155,000 in 2022, and over 83,000 in the first eight months of 2023, Unicef said.

Mr Conille said: “The situation confronting children on the move in Latin America and the Caribbean is unparalleled in its complexity and scale, demanding immediate attention and decisive action.” 

Unicef has appealed for $160.5 million (£128m) to meet the needs of refugees and migrant children — but as of August had only received about a fifth of that amount, it said.