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News > Latin America

Guatemala: Ombudsman Criticize Use Of Children In Campaigns

  • Children and family members take part in a sit-in following a march to mark “the court-ordered deadline for the Trump Administration to reunify thousands of families separated at the border, in Washington, U.S., July 26, 2018.

    Children and family members take part in a sit-in following a march to mark “the court-ordered deadline for the Trump Administration to reunify thousands of families separated at the border, in Washington, U.S., July 26, 2018. | Photo: Reuters

Published 15 August 2018
Opinion

The Government of Guatemala has used migrant children to improve the institutional image within the framework of the repatriation processes to reunite the minors detained and separated from their families in the southern border of the United States.

The Guatemalan Ombudsman Jordan Rodas has criticized, in a statement released on Wednesday, the use of migrant children as part of a government campaign. In the statement, he demanded that children rights be seen above other things, and he manifested his "total rejection" of the proceedings, as it has not respected rights such as confidentiality of registers and the protection of private life.

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The Government of Guatemala has used migrant children to improve the institutional image within the framework of the repatriation processes to reunite minors detained and separated from their families in the southern border of the United States.

Guatemalan law for migration and the national protocol for the reception and attention for migrant children, and their families state that the outmost "care must be taken not to endanger sensitive information and identity."

"Its dissemination (of the sensitive information) by means is restricted, except when the best interest prevails," said Rodas, adding that authorities must protect the confidential character of said information.

This is why the ombudsman is asking the authorities involved in the reception of migrant children, to obey the laws, "avoiding using these processes to promote institutional or personal public image at the expense of the suffering" of children and their families.

These children were separated from their families due to a "zero-tolerance" policy adopted by the Trump administration. Between mid-May and late June, the Department of Justice implemented a ‘zero tolerance’ policy at the U.S.-Mexico border as an attempt to deter the influx of Central American migrants and asylum seekers trying to enter the country. Over 2,000 people were arrested, most with kids in tow. After public outcry Trump vowed to end the separations, a move he was doubly forced to comply with under Sabraw’s ruling.

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