(VOVworld) – The North and Central American countries agreed on Saturday to set up a network on child and adolescent migration to design strategy in prevention of such issue. Officials pledged to increase cooperation, information sharing, and communications to raise people’s awareness of child and adolescent migration in the region.

Unaccompanied children, who have entered the US illegally since 2012, sleep in a holding cell at a US Customs and Border Protection. (Photo: Getty Images)

A great number of children and adolescents have fled their home countries which were stricken by violence and poverty. Most of them targeted the US.

The US’s customs and border guards reported that in September and October of 2014, 223,000 unaccompanied children were caught at the country’s southern border. Experts said the migrant influx from Central America to the US has challenged regional governments who are required to coordinate efforts to avoid a possible humanitarian crisis.