Central American

Children's Voices

The stories of the refugee, migrant, and internally displaced teens from Central America in these videos are the stories of thousands of children who have fled their communities and countries to escape extreme violence and to save their lives.  

KIND, UNICEF, and local partners worked with children in El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico to tell their and their families’ migration stories through drawings and writing as part of our Central American Voices Project. Children also developed recommendations to improve conditions for, and treatment of, migrant, refugee, and displaced children.  You can see their individual stories here about gang violencesexual and gender-based violencedetention conditions, and the fear they felt in detention.

A Boy from Honduras

A 15-year-old migrant boy from Honduras describes tough conditions and poor treatment in a Mexican detention facility. Learn about migrant teens’ recommendations for alternatives to migration.

Children’s Recommendations

To prevent people from being forced to flee their communities, the children recommended we work together to:  

  • ensure safer communities 
  • protect women’s and girls’ health 
  • provide economic stability through education and jobs. 

 And to better protect migrant children, governments should: 

  • provide asylum to children who fear for their safety 
  • lessen asylum wait times 
  • not allow children to languish in detention  
  • not discriminate against children born in a different country.

 

 

"Most of the people who are suffering are adolescents; they are the most wanted to be killed. That is why a lot of people from where I live have gone"
16-year-old boy, El Salvador
"The immigrant officers don’t care if we can communicate with our families. They don’t care if you call, eat, sleep, are sick, they don’t care about anything."
15-year-old boy, Honduras
"There should be more laws that protect immigrants, because we also have rights and it is not fair that they treat us like animals."
17-year-old girl from El Salvador

What can you do to help these children?

Sign our petition to urge your Member of Congress to support legislation to protect these children and address the root causes of migration

Get Involved Now

This project was possible by these partners: