IOM Harare will today launch a traveling art and essay exhibition
entitled “Young, Talented and Safe” featuring the top
30 pieces selected from a national competition designed to promote
peer-to-peer messages on safe migration. 

Teenagers and young adults aged 15-24 were asked to convey their
understanding of safe migration through art and essays using the
theme: “Life is a Journey, Keep it Safe and Always Protect
Your Health.”

The exhibition, held in partnership with the Zimbabwean National
Galleries, will be shown at the National Galleries in Harare,
Bulawayo and Mutare through August 2008.

The exhibit is part of IOM’s Safe Journey information
campaign which began in 2006 and aims to help Zimbabwean youth make
the right migration choices through better information and through
teaching life and livelihood skills.

“Migration can bring many opportunities to work, study and
visit family, but migrants need more than a bus ticket to cross the
border.  A valid passport, the right visa and a work permit
are just a few of the documents that are needed when considering
migration,” says IOM Chief of Mission in Zimbabwe Marcelo
Pisani.

“Young people are the most likely to migrate in search of
employment, yet least likely to know the requirements for legal
migration or to have the resources necessary to get proper travel
documentation,” he adds. 

The most common destination for Zimbabwean migrants remains the
neighbouring countries of South Africa, Mozambique, Zambia and
Botswana. Since 2006 IOM has helped more than 227,740 mostly young
men apprehended by the authorities in these countries for
travelling without documents and returned to
Zimbabwe.    

The IOM information campaign is designed to provide unbiased and
timely information on the risks and realities of migration, and to
promote safe migration and safe health practices to prevent HIV and
AIDS, as well as ways to avoid gender-based violence and falling
prey to human traffickers.

Irregular migrants are at greater risk of exploitation and
exposure to diseases such as HIV and AIDS than other groups. 
The current prevalence of HIV and AIDS in Zimbabwe is 15.6 per cent
among 15-49 year olds.

The Safe Journey information campaign is funded by the United
Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) and
is supported by the Government of Zimbabwe.

For more information, please contact:

Erin Foster

IOM Harare

Tel: +263.4.335.048

E-mail: "mailto:efoster@iom.int" target="_blank" title=
"">efoster@iom.int