Panama — humanitarian situation

Panama serves as a key transit and coordination hub for mixed migration flows through the Americas, with ongoing movements of Venezuelan refugees and migrants alongside broader regional displacement patterns. As of May 2026, the regional context shows millions of Venezuelans dispersed across Latin America and the Caribbean, though precise figures for Panama-specific populations are not detailed in recent monitoring (R4V). The Mixed Movements Monitoring initiative by UNHCR, WFP, and UNICEF continues to track migration dynamics through the final quarter of 2025, reflecting the complex nature of movements involving refugees, asylum seekers, and economic migrants traversing Central American routes (UNICEF, UNHCR, WFP). During the first quarter of 2026, UNHCR's Panama Multi-Country Office reported operating within evolving institutional contexts and new migration frameworks while addressing rising protection risks across the Caribbean and Central America (UNHCR). Humanitarian response capacity across the region has been severely constrained by funding shortfalls. The 2025 Regional Refugee and Migrant Response Plan received approximately 10 percent of required funding, forcing many partners to reduce or suspend activities throughout the year (R4V). This sharp decline in humanitarian funding followed the U.S. funding freeze in early 2025, undermining scale and continuity of assistance across sectors (R4V). Protection concerns remain prominent as UNHCR prioritizes socioeconomic inclusion and self-reliance programming, aiming to help over 70,000 people across the Americas access employment, services, and legal identity while strengthening local systems and private-sector engagement (UNHCR). New partnerships, including IOM's collaboration with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced in May 2026, seek to expand access to jobs, skills training, and small business opportunities for migrants and host communities across Latin America (IOM). Looking forward, migration patterns in Panama and the region are expected to become more complex due to violence linked to organized crime, economic shifts, changing migration policies, rising returns and deportations, and growing climate-related hazards (IOM). Panama City hosted regional preparedness discussions in June 2026 as the IFRC highlighted cyclonic risks in the eastern Pacific despite below-average Atlantic hurricane forecasts, calling for sustained investment in preparedness and early warning systems across 25 countries exposed to tropical cyclones (IFRC).