El Salvador - IOM, together with the governments of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, has launched a campaign: Mi Comunidad en Movimiento (My Community in Motion). It aims to contribute to overcoming the stigma associated with migrants, with a special focus on vulnerable groups such as women, children and adolescents, indigenous people and members of the LGBTI community.

Mi Comunidad en Movimiento seeks to promote the fundamental rights of migrants from a human rights, gender and multiculturalism perspective, to establish meeting spaces of understanding among mobile populations and local communities of origin, transit and destination.

The campaign will cover the municipalities of Santa Ana and San Miguel in El Salvador; Malacatán and Ayutla in Guatemala; and Nacaome and Goascorán, in Honduras. The launch included artistic events and marches through the main streets of the six towns.

Representatives of local governments, public institutions, civil society and citizens took part to raise awareness of the importance of preventing crimes linked to irregular migration, including human trafficking.

The campaign also includes the development and dissemination of information materials for specific audiences such as posters and cartoons highlighting the positive link between orderly migration and development.

IOM is also working with community leaders to promote the active participation of children and adolescents in these areas to build links between local and mobile populations. This includes the development of film forums, drawing contests, public speaking competitions, development of murals and similar activities that serve as a platform to highlight the risks of irregular migration.

The campaign is part of a regional program: Prevention of Crimes Linked to Irregular Migration in Mesoamerica, implemented by IOM with the Organization of American States (OAS) and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), with funding from the European Union.

For further information, please contact José Miguel Gómez at IOM El Salvador, Email: miggomez@iom.int; Melissa Vega at IOM Guatemala, Email: mevega@iom.int, Karen Arita at IOM Honduras, Email: karita@iom.int; or Alba Miriam Amaya at IOM El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, Email: aamaya@iom.int