TIJUANA -- The city has launched the campaign "You are not merchandize" to raise awareness about the latent problem of the slave trade in the region.

Large signs and billboards have gone up with messages such as, "The slave trade exists, find out about it, information is the best way to prevent it," accompanying the faces of adolescents with a bar code on them.

The campaign is part of a broader public-private initiative that includes the justice system and social organizations to tackle the problem.

Last Tuesday, the State Attorney General's Office and the non-profit organization Red Binacional de Corazones signed an alliance to work together to train individuals to recognize the problem and to help prevent it.

Each year in Mexico some 1.2 million minors are rescued from this trade, young people who have been mainly sold as cheap labor or for sexual exploitation, said Alma Tucker, president of the organization. The group helps children and teens who are victims of violence or neglect.

A new Baja California law takes effect in July that specifically targets the slave trade as a crime and obligates authorities to create programs to combat it and to help its victims.

Tijuana is one of five main routes in the slave trade in the world, said Carolina Bustamante, the president of Tijuana's family agency, in a statement. That's why the awareness campaign is so important, she said.

The city will sponsor a program aimed at parents, teachers, children and adolescents to educate them about the steps they can take to avoid becoming a victim of this crime.

"We don' have information about how to detect this latent danger," Bustamante said.

The campaign also will be promoted through print and broadcast media, and there will be a high-tech effort to block the use of social media to lure people into the slave trade and to perpetuate it.

Omar.millan@sandiegored.com