Invest-H, the agency in charge of purchasing medical supplies during the pandemic, purchased seven mobile hospitals for 1.13 billion lempiras ($47 million), more than 289.4 million lempiras ($12 million) above the manufacturers quoted price. NGOs reported irregularities, including problems with voter rolls, buying and selling of electoral workers credentials, and lack of transparency in campaign financing. Victims were primarily impoverished individuals in both rural and urban areas (see section 7.c.). Office of the Special Envoy for Critical and Emerging Technology, Office of the U.S. The Jewish community numbered approximately 275 members. Child Abuse: Child abuse remained a serious problem. Significant human rights issues included credible reports of: unlawful or arbitrary killings, including extrajudicial killings; torture and cases of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by government agents ; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrest or detention; serious restrictions on free expression and Coordinator for the Arctic Region, Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources, Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization, Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security, Bureau of Arms Control, Verification and Compliance, Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation, Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights, Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, Office of International Religious Freedom, Office of the Special Envoy To Monitor and Combat Antisemitism, Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment, Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, Office of the Science and Technology Adviser, Bureau of the Comptroller and Global Financial Services, Bureau of Information Resource Management, Office of Management Strategy and Solutions, Bureau of International Organization Affairs, Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, U.S. COLUMBUS Ohio Gov. By law workers may remove themselves from situations that endanger their health or safety without jeopardizing continued employment. On July 18, heavily armed men kidnapped five men from their homes in the town of Triunfo de la Cruz. According to the Global Cybercrime Report, the United States reached the prominent third-best position with a Cyber-Safety Score of 8.73. Local police and emergency services lack sufficient resources to respond effectively to serious crime. The country last held national and local elections in November 2017. See the Department of States International Religious Freedom Report at https://www.state.gov/religiousfreedomreport/. The law prohibits police from unionizing (see section 7.a.). Children often worked alongside family members in agriculture and other work, such as fishing, construction, transportation, and small businesses. Since 2020, the number of Hondurans in need of humanitarian assistance has more than doubled, while food insecurity has increased due to consecutive climate shocks, rising food prices and the economic impacts of COVID-19. On May 5, the DIDADPOL director noted his office had not received a formal complaint, and he asserted two official police reports from the incident did not corroborate the PBIs account. Freedom of Press and Media, Including Online Media: Independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of views without restriction. The Supreme Court of Justice cited the presence of MACCIH personnel during Public Ministry investigations, including in the execution of search warrants in violation of the law. You have questions. Below this are an appeals court, first instance trial courts for criminal and civil cases, and municipal and district-level justices of the peace. By comparison, the United States has a global safety ranking of 128. The government cooperated with UNHCR and other humanitarian organizations that provide protection and assistance to refugees and other persons of concern. The STSS approved 43 such authorizations through September. On February 4, media reported unknown assailants shot and killed three National Party local leaders in three separate incidents within five days in Tegucigalpa: Oscar Obdulio Licona Ruiz on January 31 and Dagoberto Villalta and Marcial Martinez on February 4. The lack of space for social distancing combined with the lack of adequate sanitation made prison conditions even more life threatening during the COVID-19 pandemic. Police were investigating the killings. In these sectors employers frequently paid workers for the standard 44-hour workweek no matter how many additional hours they worked. Prison conditions were harsh and sometimes life-threatening due to pervasive gang-related violence and the governments failure to control criminal activity within the prisons. The National Human Rights Commission of Honduras received complaints about human rights abuses and referred them to the Public Ministry for investigation. Both suspects were alleged members of a criminal organization involved in drug trafficking. The law permits strikes by workers in export-processing zones and free zones for companies that provide services to industrial parks, but it requires that strikes not impede the operations of other factories in such parks. The law grants prisoners the right to prompt access to a lawyer of their choice and, if indigent, to government-provided counsel, although the public defender mechanism was weak, and authorities did not always abide by these requirements. The director of the national disaster management agency, Gabriel Rubi, was removed from his position in April. Violent gang activity, such as extortion, violent street crime, rape, and narcotics and human trafficking, is widespread. Women - Honduras has the fifth-highest rate of violence against women in the world. Organized-crime organizations, such as drug traffickers and local and transnational gangs including MS-13 and the 18th Street gang, committed killings, extortion, kidnappings, human trafficking, and intimidation of police, prosecutors, journalists, women, and human rights defenders. International Child Abductions: The country is a party to the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. The legal process against Roberto David Castillo Mejia, one of the alleged intellectual authors of the killing, continued slowly due to motions and appeals by the defense, and Castillo remained incarcerated. Deportation, Circular Migration and Organized Crime Honduras Case Study; Download the Publication; Honduras: Information Gathering Mission Report; Violence in Honduras: an Analysis of the Failure in Public Security and the State'S Response to Criminality; Opendocpdf.Pdf; Honduras Elites and Organized Crime; Honduras 2019 Crime & Safety Report On September 16, the Public Ministry filed an indictment against army military police officer Josue Noe Alvarado Giron for the April 24 murder of Marvin Rolando Alvarado Santiago at a military roadblock in Omoa, Cortes. It was unclear how many of these threats were related to the victims professions or activism. At the local level, only 7 percent of elected mayors were women, but women represented 76 percent of the elected vice mayors. The law prohibits members of the armed forces and police, as well as certain other public employees, from forming labor unions. Long periods of pretrial detention remained common and problematic, with many other pretrial detainees held in the general population with convicted prisoners. On January 10, unknown assailants shot and killed Tolupan indigenous leader Vicente Saavedra in Morazan, Yoro Department. The government did not effectively enforce these laws and regulations, although penalties were commensurate with laws related to civil rights, such as election interference. COFADEH reported an increase of complaints regarding the use of excessive and disproportionate force by security forces under the national curfew. In all of 2019, the STSS levied fines of more than 38.1 million lempiras ($1.58 million) but collected only 755,000 lempiras ($31,300). Authorities launched an investigation and made one arrest in connection with the kidnappings in July and five more arrests in September. According to the arrest report, he "was threatening and abusive, challenging others to fight, and making loud, unusual noises." Additionally, he was charged with "impeding passengers' ability to safely board (an) American Airlines flight." He was taken to the county jail. The HNPs Violent Crimes Task Force investigated crimes against high-profile and particularly vulnerable victims, including journalists as well as judges, human rights activists, and members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) community. Statistics from the National Emergency Systems call center showed the country was on pace for more than 100,000 reports of domestic violence during the year. Prisoners suffered from overcrowding, insufficient access to food and water, violence, and alleged abuse by prison officials. The law requires individuals and companies that employ more than 20 school-age children at their facilities to provide a location for a school. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights reported 1,695 cases of COVID-19 in 25 prisons as of September, including cases among medical personnel, security personnel, and administrators. Civil society organizations criticized the governments failure to investigate threats adequately. Although the law generally prohibits such actions, a legal exception allows government authorities to enter a private residence to prevent a crime or in case of another emergency. Trying again, focused this time on crime, he was . Honduras crime rate & statistics for 2020 was 36.33, a 13.52% decline from 2019. The law permits fines, and while the monetary penalty is sufficient to deter violations and commensurate with the penalties for similar crimes, such as fraud, the failure of the government to collect those fines facilitated continued labor code violations. October and February were the deadliest months, with 43 and 38 women murdered on account of their gender, respectively. Under the new inspection law, the STSS has the authority temporarily to shut down workplaces where there is an imminent danger of fatalities; however, there were not enough trained inspectors to deter violations sufficiently. I have some answers. Estimates of the number of children younger than 18 in the countrys workforce ranged from 370,000 to 510,000. These deaths included several in San Pedro Sula and La Ceiba involving U.S. citizens murdered shortly after arriving in the country. The government did not restrict or disrupt access to the internet or censor online content, and there were no credible reports that the government monitored private online communications without appropriate legal authority. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom from: a. Nongovernmental Impact: Some journalists and other members of civil society reported threats from members of organized-crime groups. Some employers either refused to engage in collective bargaining or made it very difficult to do so. The combined homicide rate per 100 thousand population remains low, with steep declines in some countries and remaining stable in others. Josue Alvarado was assigned to Task Force Maya Chorti. Inspectors began undergoing virtual training in new technology in March in response to the challenges brought about by the pandemic and national curfew. The Public Ministry reported five such cases undergoing trial, with four cases in the sentencing phase of trial. DIDADPOL conducted internal investigations of HNP members in a continuation of the police purge begun in 2016. It stipulates that a prosecutor has 24 additional hours to decide if there is probable cause for indictment, whereupon a judge has 24 more hours to decide whether to issue a temporary detention order. The reports alleged illicit gains of more than 1.64 billion lempiras ($68 million) by government officials in the purchase of medical supplies. According to the Violence Observatory, of the 317 reported cases from 2009 through 2019 of hate crimes and violence against members of the LGBTI population, 92 percent had gone unpunished. The law provides for freedom of association, and the government generally respected this right. The law grants workers the right to form and join unions of their choice, bargain collectively, and strike. Children, including from indigenous and Afro-descendant communities, particularly Miskito boys, were at risk for forced labor in the fishing, mining, construction, and hospitality industries. During April, the first full month of the curfew, COFADEH reported 11,471 complaints of arbitrary actions by security forces, mainly abusive detentions for curfew violators. In the agricultural sector, companies frequently paid less than minimum wage to most workers, with fewer than 1 percent of agricultural workers receiving the minimum wage. On July 10, unidentified assailants shot and killed transgender activist Scarleth Campbell in Tegucigalpa. The Autonomous University of Honduras Violence Observatory reported 13 arbitrary or unlawful killings by security forces during the year. If a victims physical injuries do not reach the severity required to categorize the violence as a criminal act, the legal penalty for a first offense is a sentence of one to three months of community service. The OAS mission found that the 1.5 percent margin of victory, combined with numerous irregularities in vote processing, left it unable to state with certainty who won the presidential election. Many prisoners had access to weapons and other contraband, inmates attacked other inmates with impunity, and inmates and their associates outside prison threatened prison officials and their families. There were credible complaints that police occasionally failed to obtain the required authorization before entering private homes. Violent organized crime continues to disrupt Honduran society and push many people to leave the country. The Organization of American States (OAS) and EU observer teams agreed the margin of victory separating incumbent president Hernandez from challenger Salvador Nasralla was extremely narrow. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including: a. Credible allegations of corruption in the Secretariat of Labor continued. The legal framework for granting international protection fails to establish long-term safeguards for recognized refugees, since they are issued the same residence permit as other migration categories. Honduras Honduras, long one of the poorest countries in Latin America, is now also among the most violent and crime-ridden. Sexual Harassment: The law criminalizes various forms of sexual harassment. The law prohibits discrimination against persons with physical, sensory, intellectual, and mental disabilities. Employers frequently refused to comply with STSS orders that required them to reinstate workers who had been dismissed for participating in union activities. The government took steps to address corruption at high levels in government agencies, including arresting and charging members of congress, judges, prosecutors, sitting and former senior officials, mayors and other local authorities, and police officers. The Military Police of Public Order report to military authorities but conduct operations sanctioned by civilian security officials as well as by military leaders. Abusers caught in the act may be detained for up to 24 hours as a preventive measure. Under the Regional Integral Framework for Protection and Solutions, with significant support from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the government continued to build capacity to provide services to key population groups, including IDPs, those at risk of forced displacement, refugees, and returned migrants, through 14 commitments and 28 specific actions between 2018 and 2020. COFADEH reported police beat and smeared a tear gas-covered cloth on the face of an individual detained for violating the national curfew in April in El Paraiso. That is 2,607 fewer homicides. There was no information available on any major industrial accidents. Josue Alvarado allegedly shot Marvin Alvarado after a heated discussion over Marvin Alvarados failure to wear a mask during the COVID-19 pandemic. The law applies equally to citizens and foreigners, regardless of gender, and prescribes a maximum eight-hour shift per day for most workers, a 44-hour workweek, and at least one 24-hour rest period for every six days of work. Fines for child labor were not sufficient to deter violations and not commensurate with penalties for other analogous serious crimes, such as kidnapping. Prior to the twin shocks of 2020, 25.2 percent of the Honduran population lived in extreme poverty and almost half (4.4 million people) lived in poverty, based on the official poverty lines. In most prisons only inmates who purchased bottled water or had water filters in their cells had access to potable water. These INP-administered centers were on military installations and received some support services from the military. Honduras is somewhat safe to visit, though it has many dangers. This is the second consecutive year that the murder rate falls below 40 per . The West Bank and Gaza Strip. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy, 2020 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. Despite the emergency decree, CONAPREV reported that violence in the prison system continued unabated. HND41066.E - Whether there is a law in Honduras that criminalizes the wearing of tattoos; reports of state agents arresting, detaining, mistreating or murdering people with tattoos that do not belong to gangs (2001 to March 2003) - March 2003 Non-Government Organization Reports Human Rights Watch The law provides for the right to a fair and public trial; however, the judiciary did not always enforce this right. The STSS has the power to declare a work stoppage illegal, and employers may discipline employees consistent with their internal regulations, including by firing strikers, if the STSS rules that a work stoppage is illegal. Employers frequently penalized agricultural workers for taking legally authorized days off. Workers had difficulty exercising the rights to form and join unions and to engage in collective bargaining, and the government failed to enforce applicable laws effectively. The Violence Observatory reported 55 killings of women from March 15 to June 6, compared with 102 for the same period in 2019. DOUGLAS COUNTY The Douglas County Sheriff's Office has released the results of the Click-It or Ticket Enforcement Campaign which took place between Jan. 30 and Feb. 12. Such an order may be effective for up to six days, after which the judge must hold a pretrial hearing to examine whether there is probable cause to continue pretrial detention. Castillo was returning from the market at 3:30 p.m. when a police officer arrested her for violating the curfew, even though the curfew did not start until 7:00 p.m. Castillo said the arrest was a reprisal for an encounter a few days previously, when Castillo confronted the officer who was attempting to expel a vendor from a park. The emergency decree instituted the Interinstitutional Force as an auditing commission for the penitentiary system. There were no credible reports of disappearances by or on behalf of government authorities. The Association for a Better Life and the Cattrachas Lesbian Network both reported 16 violent deaths of LGBTI persons as of September. Yes, despite all the historical crime and violence, which don't affect tourists, El Salvador is safe to visit in 2023. ANDERSON An Indiana man suspected of setting fire to an Anderson residence in 2020 is charged with attempted murder and first-degree arson, according to court records. Media reported prison riots and violent confrontations between gang members in prisons throughout the year. The country was a destination for child sex tourism. With high rates of impunity, including 90 percent for killings of women in the last 15 years according to the Violence Observatory, civil society groups reported that women often did not report domestic violence, or withdrew the charges, because they feared or were economically dependent on the aggressor. The law also requires that public-sector workers involved in the refining, transportation, and distribution of petroleum products submit their grievances to the Secretariat of Labor and Social Security (STSS) before striking. The victims were land-rights defenders from the Afro-descendant Garifuna minority group. Nearly two years after passage of a comprehensive labor inspection law in 2017, the STSS released implementing regulations based on extensive consultations with the private sector and unions. The Human Rights Board condemned some of these arrests as arbitrary under the guise of curfew enforcement. is a specialized agency of the United Nations that promotes the development of international air navigation safety and security . Powerful special interests, including organized-crime groups, exercised influence on the outcomes of some court proceedings. Although the law prohibits such practices, government officials received complaints and investigated alleged abuses by members of the security forces on the streets and in detention centers. Home. For years, street gangs have charged protection . Honduras 2020 Crime & Security Report this is an annual report produced in collaboration with the Regional Security Office at the U.S. Embassy. A stronger outbreak is expected during the 2021 rainy season (May-November) due to . Governmental Attitude Regarding International and Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Abuses of Human Rights, Section 6. According to the secretariat, the system had a designed capacity for approximately 10,600 inmates. The national curfew instituted in response to COVID-19, however, severely limited the freedom of internal movement. Some companies also delayed appointing or failed to appoint representatives for required STSS-led mediation, a practice that prolonged the mediation process and impeded the right to strike. Penalties for forced labor under antitrafficking law range from 10 to 15 years imprisonment, commensurate with penalties for other analogous serious crimes, such as kidnapping, but authorities often did not enforce them. Persons with disabilities, indigenous and Afro-Honduran persons, LGBTI persons, and persons with HIV or AIDS also faced discrimination in employment and occupation (see section 6). Impunity for such crimes was a problem, as was the impunity rate for all types of crime. The law places restrictions on these rights, such as requiring that a recognized trade union represent at least 30 workers, prohibiting foreign nationals from holding union offices, and requiring that union officials work in the same substantive area of the business as the workers they represent. Freedom of Expression, Including for the Press, b. Freedoms of Peaceful Assembly and Association, e. Status and Treatment of Internally Displaced Persons, Section 3. Credible observers noted problems in trial procedures, such as a lack of admissible evidence, judicial corruption, widespread public distrust of the legal system, witness intimidation, and an ineffective witness protection program. The Office of the Inspector General of the Armed Forces and the Humanitarian Law Directorate investigated abuses by the military. Mike DeWine and the Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation (OBWC) Administrator John Logue announced today that the state's private employers will pay nearly $90 million less The law criminalizes domestic violence and provides penalties of up to four years in prison for domestic violence. This was the result of strong legislation, low cybersecurity exposure (how exposed the digital infrastructure is) and the exceptional top score at the Global Cybersecurity Index, one of the six indices taken . By the end of 2019, over 800,000 people from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras had sought protection either within their countries or had crossed international borders seeking asylum to escape. According to Autonomous University of Honduras Violence Observatory statistics, killings of women decreased under the national curfew in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Civil society continued to raise problems with minimum wage violations, highlighting agricultural companies in the south as frequent violators. Many prisons lacked sufficient security personnel. The director of Invest-H, Marco Antonio Bogran Corrales, resigned from his position in July and was indicted in October on two corruption charges for embezzling an estimated 1.3 million lempiras ($54,000) in public funds and funneling a contract for mobile hospitals to his uncle. Pretrial Detention: Judicial inefficiency, corruption, and insufficient resources delayed proceedings in the criminal justice system, and lengthy pretrial detention was a serious problem. Honduras remains one of the poorest and most unequal countries in the Western Hemisphere. Authorities did not generally segregate those with tuberculosis or other infectious diseases from the general prison population; as of September the INP reported 153 prisoners were being treated for tuberculosis. The law provides that police may make arrests only with a warrant unless: they make the arrest during the commission of a crime, there is strong suspicion that a person has committed a crime and might otherwise evade criminal prosecution, they catch a person in possession of evidence related to a crime, or a prosecutor has ordered the arrest after obtaining a warrant. The collapse of this empire left the territories of what we now understand to be Central America, to split off into separate regions. Corruption: On March 13, the Supreme Court of Justice ordered a new trial for former first lady Rosa Elena Bonilla de Lobo, spouse of former president Porfirio Lobo, who was convicted in August 2019 of fraud and misappropriation of public funds and sentenced to 58 years in prison. The government continued to prosecute individuals allegedly involved in the 2016 killing of environmental and indigenous activist Berta Caceres. DIDADPOL investigated abuses by police forces. Section 1. Persons suspected of any of 22 specific felonies must remain in custody, pending the conclusion of judicial proceedings against them. In response to the pervasive violence in the prison system, the government declared an emergency in the National Penitentiary System in December 2019. Honduras is a constitutional, multiparty republic. Some of the worst forms of child labor occurred, including commercial sexual exploitation of children, and NGOs reported that gangs often forced children to commit crimes, including homicide (see section 6, Children). Although 74 percent of births were attended by skilled health care personnel, NGOs reported that there were significant gaps in obstetric care, especially in rural areas. Birth Registration: Children derive citizenship by birth in the country, from the citizenship of their parents, or by naturalization. The government has an Office for Persons with Disabilities located within the Ministry of Development and Social Inclusion, but its ability to provide services to persons with disabilities was limited. This helps keep everyone in poverty. There were several reports that the government or its agents committed arbitrary or unlawful killings. The law prohibits the use of children younger than 18 for exhibitions or performances of a sexual nature or in the production of pornography. Employers rarely paid the minimum wage in the agricultural sector and paid it inconsistently in other sectors. Because labor inspectors continued to be concentrated in Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula, full labor inspections and follow-up visits to confirm compliance were far less frequent in other parts of the country. World Report 2021 - Honduras. The COVID-19 lockdown and curfew affected sex workers income and further exacerbated existing vulnerabilities.

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