A group of five unaccompanied minors intercepted in El Salvador on
their way to the United States were this week assisted by IOM and
its partners to return to their parents and relatives in Nicaragua.

This latest group is part of an increasing trend in minors
travelling alone from Central American countries to the United
States.  According to information compiled by IOM since 2005,
the majority of the minors are being smuggled to the United States
to be reunited with parents who pay smugglers or coyotes 4,000 to
5,000 US dollars. Some of them are simply travelling north on their
own to reunite with their parents or relatives, whilst others are
fleeing violence, poverty and lack of opportunities at
home. 

In El Salvador, when a minor is intercepted at the border, the
authorities contact the Salvadorian Institute for Children and
Adolescents (ISNA by its Spanish acronym) which cares for the
minors until they can be returned to their country.  The
assistance provided by ISNA includes lodging, food and other basic
needs as well as a thorough psychosocial evaluation to determine
the circumstances that led to the minor's decision to migrate. The
following step is contacting the authorities in the country of
origin who issue a travel document and identify family members. The
length of stay in the ISNA centre is usually between two and three
weeks until all information can be confirmed and family can be
identified.

The group of five minors was escorted home to Nicaragua
yesterday by IOM and ISNA staff where they were handed over to Mi
Familia or My Family, the state entity that cares for minors until
they can be reunited with a parent or family member.

According to statistics compiled by ISNA, 80 per cent of the
minors referred to their centre are being smuggled to the United
States and the rest are victims of trafficking.  Earlier this
week when ISNA officials contacted IOM for return assistance, they
reported that the minors were showing signs of anxiety, trouble
sleeping and difficulty relating to others in the centre.

The IOM regional office in Costa Rica manages the Intraregional
Fund for Vulnerable Migrants created in 2005 by the states that
make up the Regional Conference on Migration (Belize, Canada, Costa
Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico,
Nicaragua, Panama and the United States). 

Since the Fund was created in 2005, IOM has assisted more than
430 vulnerable migrants with the majority (247) being unaccompanied
minors and women. Most of the migrants were from El Salvador and
Honduras and were assisted to return from Mexico and
Guatemala.  Many of them had been assaulted, injured or had
become stranded on their on their way to the United
States. 

During their journey north many migrants become victims of
extortion, assaults and other forms of abuse, including rape and
sexual extortion in the case of female migrants.  One of the
greatest risks is gangs or maras, groups of youngsters who use the
same migration routes to carry out criminal activities.  The
mareros often assault trains where the migrants are hiding and then
steal their money and other possessions.  If the migrants
refuse to give in to their demands, they are stabbed, beaten,
thrown off the trains and even murdered.  Others lose limbs
while jumping on and off moving trains trying to avoid detection at
the border. 

For more information, please contact:

Jorge Peraza

IOM San José

Tel: +506. 221 5348 ext. 124

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