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Panama

The ICRC has been working in Panama since 1989. In 2010, the organization signed a headquarters agreement with the Panamanian government, which enabled us to establish a mission in the country. In 2024, this mission became part of the Regional Delegation for Mexico and Central America.

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An ICRC staff member in discussion with Sembrando Paz vivarium manager at La Joya prison, Panama City.

Our work in Panama

The ICRC seeks to assist and protect the most vulnerable people and to ensure that their dignity and fundamental rights are respected.

 

We work together with other members of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement to meet the needs of migrants crossing the Darien Gap, in particular by providing support to our main operational partner in the country, the Red Cross Society of Panama. 

Our work in Panama is supported by our regional delegation in Mexico, which also covers the ICRC’s humanitarian activities in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Belize. For more information, please visit the Mexico page.

Our services in Panama

  • The ICRC seeks to ensure that states fulfil their obligations to protect the lives, preserve the dignity and alleviate the suffering of vulnerable migrants. To this end, we maintain a confidential dialogue with the authorities and security forces, raising their awareness of existing legislation and people’s vulnerabilities linked to migration.

  • Together with the National Societies, the ICRC’s Central Tracing Agency set up the Family Links Network, which helps prevent people from going missing or becoming separated and works to restore and maintain contact between family members wherever possible. It also seeks to establish the fate and whereabouts of persons reported missing.

  • The ICRC provides humanitarian forensic support and promotes best practices and standards, to ensure that people who have died are treated appropriately and with dignity, that deaths are documented and, where possible, individuals are identified. We also provide guidance to families and help them carry out the administrative formalities for repatriation and burial.

  • The ICRC helps migrants access services offered by National Societies or the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

  • The ICRC works in coordination with the Red Cross Society of Panama to raise awareness of international humanitarian law and international human rights law. We nurture a relationship of bilateral technical cooperation with the Panamanian authorities, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with respect to these legal frameworks.

Contact us

Address

Clayton, City of Knowledge. Evelio Lara Street, House 133B, Panama City, Panama

Telephone

+507 370 4881

Opening Hours:

8am–5pm

Write to us

Media contact

Ms Marcela MÉNDEZ MARTÍNEZ

Telephone

+52 55 2755 1794
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Our work with the Red Cross Society of Panama

The ICRC works closely with the Red Cross Society of Panama to provide family-links services, which have been a source of comfort and relief for thousands of migrants and their families in many countries. We have worked with forensic specialists to identify people who have died and give families seeking answers the opportunity to mourn.

The ICRC trains the National Society on the Safer Access Framework and the minimum protection approach, which aim to help staff and volunteers respond effectively and safely to the needs of people in complex and potentially dangerous situations, such as the protests that shook Panama in July 2022 and October 2023.

Go to the Red Cross page