San Salvador – IOM, the UN Migration Agency, and the General Directorate of Migration (DGME) of El Salvador this week (14/02) presented the Protocol of Action and Coordination for the Care and Protection of Foreign Migrant Children and Adolescents. The protocol will allow the Salvadoran government to advance in the guarantee and fulfilment of the fundamental rights of this population present on Salvadoran territory.

The document details the necessary mechanisms and procedures for the assistance, care and return of this population and their families, based on profiles that address the particularities of each case. The protocol was designed within the framework of the Principle of Best Interest, which establishes that in all decisions that affect children and adolescents, including those who are migrants, their physical, spiritual, psychological, moral and social development is prioritized so as to achieve the full and harmonious development of their personality (established in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Law on the Comprehensive Protection of Children and Adolescents – LEPINA).

The official event was headed by the General Director of Migration, Héctor Rodríguez; IOM Chief of Mission for El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, Jorge Peraza; DGME’s General Secretary, Helen Flamenco; and the Chief of Immigration Control, Herbert Hernández.

“With this protocol of action, we are contributing to the government’s efforts to meet the Sustainable Development Goals through the application of planned and well-managed policies that facilitate migration and orderly, safe, regular and responsible mobility,” Peraza said.

The preparation of the Protocol was carried out within the framework of IOM’s Mesoamerica Program, financed by the Office of Population, Refugees and Migration of the Department of State of the United States of America.

The purpose of the Mesoamerica Program is to contribute to the development and implementation of strategies on regular, orderly and safe migration, which will allow adequate protection of the most vulnerable migrants in Mesoamerica.

For more information, please contact José Miguel Gómez, IOM El Salvador, Email: miggomez@iom.int or Alba Miriam Amaya, IOM El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, Tel: +503 2521-0511, Email: aamaya@iom.int.