El Salvador Officials call for Freedom!

Memories of Childhood: El Salvador Officials call for Freedom! from End Child Detention on Vimeo

 

There are more than 200 million international migrants worldwide, and one fourth of them are children. Studies have shown that detention, regardless of conditions or duration, has a devastating effect on the physical, emotional and psychological development of children.

In this video, government officials from El Salvador speak of their own childhood memories, urging all governments to take action towards ending child detention.

 

 

Liduvina Magarín, Deputy Minister for Salvadorians Abroad

“Well, I was actually very happy as a child. With my parents and my siblings, there were a lot of us. And naturally like all children, we played a lot…”

David Ernesto Morales, Human Rights Ombudsman, El Salvador

“Playing during recess was what I liked the most, different games, from football to ‘ladrón librado'”

 

Sandra Rivera, Associate Ombudsman for Civil and Individual Rights, El Salvador

“One of my favorite games to play was hide and seek, and also ‘mica'”.

Hector Antonio Rodríguez, General Director of Migration and Foreign Affairs, El Salvador

“We used to gather at our friends’ homes to play spinning top. What’s neat is that we had learned how to make our own spinning tops…”

Doris Rivas Polanco, Executive Secretary of the National Council for Migrants’ Protection and Development, El Salvador

“We played with the bat, we played “escondelero”, we played “micas”, we played so much! And when it got dark, it was terrible, because we had to go home…”

 

 

 

Elda Cobar, Director of the Child Development Institute, El Salvador

“Freedom is being committed and serious in creating a country and society that is truly more just…”