Tegucigalpa – The UN Migration Agency (IOM) has delivered school kits to 150 returned migrant children in Honduras to facilitate their access to education and reintegration in the country. The kit distribution was part of the launch of the Educational Campaign for returned migrant children and adolescents, held at El Progreso, 234 km northwest of Tegucigalpa.

After being returned from other countries because of their irregular migration status, migrant children have the right to comprehensive education aimed at the full development of their personality, aptitudes, mental and physical capacities, up to their maximum potential. It is the responsibility of government, families, and society to guarantee quality and progressive integral education in conditions of equality and equity for every child or adolescent, avoiding early school dropouts.

"As IOM, we reiterate our commitment to work together in the care of unaccompanied migrant children and adolescents, their families and other groups of vulnerable populations," said Likza Salazar, IOM Honduras National Project Officer.

Of the total number of girls and boys who received the donation, 76 required immediate economic support. The rest are returned children and adolescents who attend different local schools and to which the Local Board of Support for Returned Migrants has followed up since the migration crisis of 2014.

In 2017, a total of 48,022 migrants returned to Honduras. Of these, 3,010 were boys and 1,703 girls, according to data from the Consular and Migratory Observation Committee of Honduras (CONMIGHO). 2018 data reveals that, until 9 February, the total of returnees amounts to 6,049 people. Of these, 647 are children returned from Mexico.

Since 2014, with technical and financial assistance from IOM, support has been provided for more than 43,500 migrants returned from the United States and Mexico. They have received food, clothing, transportation, medical and psychological care and family contact. This has been possible thanks to the interinstitutional work of multiple governmental, departmental and municipal actors, as well as civil society organizations and international cooperation.

Kit distribution is an activity under the framework of the Return and Reintegration project in the Northern Triangle of Central America, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

For further information, please contact Ismael Cruceta at IOM Honduras, Tel: +504 2220 1104, Email: icruceta@iom.int or Alba Amaya at IOM El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, Tel: +503 2521 0511, Email: aamaya@iom.int.