Honduras: Displaced People at 'State of Emergency' Levels

State and civil society organizations gathered in Tegucigalpa, Honduras to report on the number of displaced and trafficked people within the country. They concluded that impunity continues to prevail in terms of trafficking and internal displacement is plaguing the country.

RELATED: 
No More US Financial Aid for Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador

During the nation’s first ‘Public Hearing on Access to Justice for Women’ held Wednesday, the government revealed that in 2017, 154 cases of trafficking were filed, but only 17 convictions were obtained — an 11 percent conviction rate. Telesur reports, however, that some 23,600 people have likely been trafficked in recent years in Honduras though precise numbers, when not officially registered, are difficult to come by.

The statistics caused panelist and director of the Mexican Commission for the Defense and Support of Human Rights (CMDPDH) Maria Alejandra Nuño Ruiz, to say "the state should be declaring a state of emergency regarding the women’s situation (in Honduras) because these are the only (trafficking) cases convinced."

Deputy Commissioner of the Honduran National Police Geovanny Serrano Torres said that his institution is working on protocols with other state agencies to manage the impunity in cases of violence against women.

"We are working on protocols with the public prosecutor's office (and) we are working with organizations that are advising us. We have statistical evidence from SEPOL," the Secretary of Security. Torres added that they are working on a protocol manual to manage missing children cases. This year there have been 400 missing children cases filed.

The panel also said that according to the Inter-institutional Commission for the Protection of People Displaced by Violence, there were 41,000 families displaced by violence and insecurity between 2004 and 2014, that’s some 174,000 people.

The domestic violence continues to be a major issue within Honduras. The joint study revealed that police often dismiss women’s complaints when they are victims of violence by their male partners.

The Director of the National Institute for Women (Inam) Anaminta Madrid, indicated that the police have responded to domestic abuse complaints from around 3,000 women over the past year, but 8,000 others have report violence, but aren’t being helped. The government added 20 million Honduran lempiras, or over US$24,500 to the budget for domestic violence, but Madrid said, "It is not enough; we have allied with women."

State and civil society organizations gathered in Tegucigalpa, Honduras to report on the number of displaced and trafficked people within the country. They concluded that impunity continues to prevail in terms of trafficking and internal displacement is plaguing the country.

The United Nations says femicides in Honduras have surpassed epidemic levels. Since 2015, 12 out of every 100,000 women residents have been killed at the hands of their partner or family members annually, and femicides have a 95 percent impunity rate in the country.