El Salvador - With the slogan No pongas en riesgo sus vidas (Don’t Put Their Lives at Risk), the Government of El Salvador this week launched a new information campaign to warn parents of the risks faced by unaccompanied children migrating to the United States. 

The campaign’s messages will be broadcast on radio and TV stations in El Salvador, as well as in U.S. states with large Salvadorian communities, including California, Texas and the Washington D.C. metropolitan area.

El Salvador Minister of Foreign Affairs Hugo Martinez said: “The campaign’s message was designed to warn parents and guardians that their children’s lives are at risk when they put them in the hands of smugglers whose priority is their illicit business and the money they make – not the welfare of the children.”

The increased numbers of children traveling through Central America are at a level never before witnessed by IOM.  The organization is seeing more and more children as young as 18 months old entrusted to smugglers.

“IOM is deeply concerned about the current mass migration of children from Central America to the United States hoping to join their families, escape violence and poverty in their home communities, or in search of economic opportunities.  But parents and guardians need to be made aware of the horrific dangers these children face at every step of the long journey north,” said Delbert Field, IOM Chief of Mission in El Salvador.

The second phase of the campaign will focus on taking the message in person to the main communities of origin to raise awareness and provide the necessary training and support to encourage residents to work towards the development of their communities.

The campaign is supported by IOM with funds from the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Population Refugees and Migration (PRM) and UNICEF.

The campaign’s radio and TV spots are available in Spanish at:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cw8kQWLR-_s&feature=youtu.be

Download TV spot: http://ninezmigrante.rree.gob.sv/index.php/component/jdownloads/viewdownload/9/23?Itemid=

Download radio spot: http://ninezmigrante.rree.gob.sv/index.php/component/jdownloads/viewdownload/9/22?Itemid=

For more information please contact

Cecilia Ramirez
IOM El Salvador
Email: ceramirez@iom.int
Tel: +503 2521 0500 Ext. 519