A record numbers of children are on the move through Latin America and the Caribbean, UNICEF says

By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. children’s agency says record numbers of children are making perilous journeys through Latin America and the Caribbean, often alone, and from countries as far away as Asia and Africa. UNICEF said in a Child Alert Thursday that in the past 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%, up from 19% in 2019. Globally, children make up 13% of people on the move, it said. UNICEF’s Gary Conille said the driving forces behind child migration include rampant gang violence, poverty, inequality and the escalating effects of climate change magnified by the COVID-19 pandemic.“