El Salvador Launches Public Education Campaign to Curtail Emigration of Children
El Salvador Launches Public Education Campaign to Curtail Emigration of Children
Sunday, 20 July 2014 12:21
By Frederick B. Mills, Council on Hemispheric Affairs | Report
Four to five hundred children leave El Salvador every day for the United States in order to escape violence and poverty. Since 2005, 26,568 Salvadoran children have been processed by U.S. immigration courts, 7,742 of whom arrived as unaccompanied minors.[1] The Salvadoran government, like the two other Northern Triangle nations (Honduras and Guatemala), is faced with a four-fold challenge: advocate for the legal rights and legal representation of their citizens who are being processed by U.S. immigration authorities; urge Mexican authorities to provide adequate security for migrants traveling through Mexico; establish public security for all citizens; and stem the tide of undocumented emigration. This short essay focuses on the last objective, which is complicated by a moral dilemma for families in those towns that are afflicted by organized crime: should our children stay or should they go?
One component of the Salvadoran government’s response to the exodus is a campaign launched this week to discourage parents from sending their children, particularly unaccompanied minors, on the perilous journey to the United States. It features a thirty-second video, the “The Tale of the Coyote,” that plays on a popular children’s lullaby. The closing lyrics of the traditional tune, sung to a soothing melody, are “if you do not go to sleep, the coyote will eat you.” In the video, the tale alludes to the real life smugglers who are paid handsome fees to transport their human cargo to the US border. The video is narrated at first by an ominous coyote who says “your children will travel safely, just send me the money.” Then the voices of children recount the terrible things that can happen to migrants along the way. A woman then implores parents and guardians to “not place our children and adolescents at risk” and that “protecting them is our responsibility.”
The Minister of External Relations, Hugo Martínez, explains:
“Our government reiterates the call to parents and guardians of our children not to put their lives and personal integrity at risk with this extremely dangerous crossing, as they can fall victim to accidents, robbery, extortion, kidnapping, physical, verbal or psychological mistreatment, sexual abuse, labor or sexual exploitation or even death.” [2]
This message is being disseminated in El Salvador with a special focus on the towns most impacted by emigration flows, and it will soon be broadcast in Texas, California, and Washington DC. El Salvador is not alone in this effort; the public outreach campaign is supported by several government ministries, as well as the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the International Organization of Migration (OIM), and the U.S. Embassy in El Salvador.
More:
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/25058-el-salvador-launches-public-education-campaign-to-curtail-emigration-of-children