Honduras

harsh punishments and human rights abuses. Application of sharia law offers further complexities in seeking justice, such as the unequal standing of women compared to men before the sharia

courts. Sharia law and principles can be applied provided there is no conflict with relevant human rights provisions.

Box 8: Honduras snapshot

Population

Languages

Legal system

Women, Peace and Security Index ranking (2021/22)

Social Institutions and Gender Index ranking (2019)

Prevalence of physical or sexual IPV over last 12 months 9.90 million118

Spanish, Amerindian dialects

Civil law system

104 out of 170

Low (22%)

14% of women119

Prevalence of physical or sexual IPV over lifetime 26% of women120

Femicide 6.2 per 100,000 habitants121

Organized crime-related violence 52% of reported femicides linked to organized crime122

Honduras reflects a complex and unstable context, marked by violence and corruption and infiltrated by organized crime networks. The population is highly polarized, with an elected government whose legitimacy is contested. A coup d’état in 2009 has led to the erosion of democracy and increased levels of corruption.123 During the national elections in 2017, the incumbent President was re-elected for a fouryear term amid widespread allegations of fraud.124 Massive civil protests were quashed by police violence.125 The sociopolitical crisis exacerbated the levels of social conflict, state repression, organized crime and forced migration, as well as VAWG, including femicide. In 2018, Honduras ranked 146 out of 180 countries for its levels of corruption126 —with a cost to the country estimated at 12.5 per cent of GDP.127

Organized crime has permeated all levels of society in Honduras. This has had a significant impact on socioeconomic development and erosion of the rule of law. Organized crime in Honduras largely consists of gangs and groups related to drug trafficking, with as much as 80 per cent of the drugs that move from South America to Mexico and the United States passing through Honduras.128 The gangs typically operate by controlling well-demarcated territories, terrorizing the civilian population through extortion, violence, threats of violence, kidnapping and drug sales. An expansion of the power of gangs can be seen in the combination of illegal activities with legal companies, through alliances with political actors, association in licit and illicit businesses, or occupying positions of power, undermining democratic governance.129 Although some women are actively involved in organized crime, either as members of gangs, drug smugglers (mulas), small-scale drug sellers (narco-menudeo) or lookouts (halcones), the majority of gang members are men and the leadership of organized crime is in the hands of men.130

The increase in forced displacement is linked to community violence and organized crime. According to OXFAM most people flee urban violence, fuelled by the dispute over territory between gangs or maras, the presence of organized crime, extortion, threats, forced recruitment, sexual violence, and insecurity in their communities.131 The most vulnerable populations in these cases are boys, girls, women, older adults, truck drivers, the LGBTI community, journalists and human rights defenders.

According to the Mesoamerican Initiative of Human Rights Defenders (IMDefensoras),132 rather than improving citizen security, the heightened military and police presence, as well as the forced displacement of populations for the exploitation of natural resources and megaprojects, had led to widespread abuses, physical attacks and violation of women’s human rights. During the decade after the 2009 coup d’état, women human rights defenders denounced state persecution133 using anti-drug laws.134

Honduras has one of the highest rates of violent crime in the world, among countries where war has not been declared.135 In 2019, homicides continued to be the main cause of death in Honduras by external causes, with a rate of 44.7 per 100,000 habitants for that year,136 many times greater than the global average rate of 8.8, and more than double the regional rate of 19.1 per 100,000 137 .

Honduras also has the highest femicide rate in the world. In 2019, the femicide138 rate was 6.2 per 100,000 habitants, the highest rate in the region and the world.139 Notably, Honduras includes “links to organized crime” as a potential classification for femicide, since the 2020 penal code reform. According to the Violence Observatory of the National University of Honduras, 52 per cent of reported femicides in 2019 were linked to organized crime, defined as murders by hitmen or gang members, revenge killings and kidnapping, or in the context of extortion, drug trafficking and trafficking of persons.140 However, this is likely an under-estimate, due to the high proportion (14 per cent in 2019) of murders of women for which no information is available.141 In many of these cases, the women were not active participants in the crime, but were witnesses of criminal acts, or were romantic partners or family members of men who were part of these criminal networks. Although femicides are the most extreme form of violence faced by women in Honduras, they represent only the tip of the iceberg in terms of the scale and scope of GBV against women.

Honduran women and girls also face sexual and physical assaults, domestic violence, forced migration, child sex abuse and human trafficking and smuggling.142 In addition to available DHS data, a study conducted in 2017 in the Western region of Honduras by the Global Women’s Institute found a high lifetime prevalence of physical or sexual IPV: 26 per cent, with 14 per cent of women experiencing IPV in the 12 months prior to the survey.143 This is similar to the regional and global averages of IPV prevalence of 26–28 per cent.144 Access to justice for GBV survivors in Honduras is complicated by widespread impunity. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights noted that critical levels of impunity plague Honduras and that care for victims and their families is insufficient and inadequate.145 The lack of access to justice has the effect of perpetuating and, in some instances, favouring the repetition of serious human rights violations. There is a sense of a “selective justice” that acts late without offering an effective response to human rights violations. On the other hand, it favours the interests of various actors linked to the public, political and business power.146

A new penal code was passed and entered into force in 2020,147 which included some improvements in the framing of GBV, discussed in the following sections. However, the penal code was widely criticized for lack of transparency and consultation with civil society. The new law reduces penalties for several corruption-related offences, including embezzlement, influence peddling, obstruction of justice and bribery. The law is also retroactive and would benefit those already convicted or facing prosecution.148 Most notably, it reduces, and in some cases, eliminates carceral penalties for the crimes of extortion, kidnapping and drug trafficking, exacerbating citizen mistrust in the justice system.