More than 1,100 women killed in Honduras, 98% goes unpunished

Written by admin on Tue, 03/19/2013 - 15:06ImpresiónPDF version version


Study confirms that femicide increased by 200 percent between 2011 and 2012. According to the analysis of the figures available, 51 women are killed a month in most cases with signs of cruelty they are also victims of rape, torture and mutilation. However, the criminals seem to be untouchable in a country where 98% of crimes go unpunished.

Tegucigalpa, Honduras (Conexihon.) - Through a report submitted by a number of organizations related to the topic, revealed Monday that more than 1,100 women were murdered in Honduras between 2011 and 2012.

The study shows how between 2011 and 2012, the issue of femicide has increased even more, from 512 in 2011 to 606 femicide cases in 2012, information sharing Observatory UNAH Violence.This complaint was disclosed during the presentation of the report by the Tribune of Women against femicide, called: "As the threads are woven of impunity" of the "National Campaign against Femicide".The document indicates that in the period between 2005 and 2012 there were 2850 murders in the Central American country and killed most hovered between 15 and 30 years old.According Maritza Gallardo, UN Women in the Honduran capital, "there is no justice in the murder of women and impunity prevails in the country." Gallardo considered worrisome in Honduras are killed in violent circumstances some 51 women a month or about one victim every two hours.

Impunity and lack of justice

Among the conclusions that leaves the studio is one that specifies that the lack of investigation by the authorities is one of the main obstacles to access to justice. It is estimated that 98 percent of the cases, those responsible remain unpunished. Murders are committed in the big cities of the country such as the cities of San Pedro Sula, Tegucigalpa and Comayagüela.According to the report, impunity and lack of justice, but also the tacit acceptance of violence against women, prevailing discriminatory and misogynist criteria that are present when women or families of victims seeking justice and are faced with the re victimization, blaming women themselves victims of femicide.

Who are the women murdered

Femicide victims are mainly young people between 20 and 24 years. It is then to young women, which leads to the authorities accountable to women of their own deaths and crimes. Women are murdered in the streets, in their homes or private venues with safety and security measures, their bodies abandoned in vacant areas.They are mostly women working in their homes, heads of families, many of them work in factories and meet morning shifts or night, becoming insecure their displacement from their homes and workplaces. Their murders have characteristics similar to the femicide in Ciudad Juarez (Mexico).Another finding no evidence that intimate femicide (murder committed by men that the victim had no connection or relationship with the perpetrator) and increased connection femicides. Also discussed a new scenario for the commission of these crimes, where femicide committed by order, in the hands of assassins, typical of organized crime.

Some conclusionsThe study "How to weave the threads of impunity" realizes that the State has not complied with the commitments and recommendations made by various international human rights organizations. The report shows where the weaknesses of state and what is their debt to women:

 • The measures promoted by the Honduran government to counter the problem of violence are mainly repressive type, as evidenced in the process of re-militarization of society according to armaments being promoted throughout the region and brings dire consequences for women.• Impunity persists. Police authorities have been involved in crimes against the people, and in specific cases of femicide. Insecurity and mistrust of judicial officers is positioned between citizenship, especially among women and their families.• The institutional collapse is well known, the Public Prosecutor, the Criminal Investigation Department and the courts. The courts are still dismissing international law on human rights of women. Procedures become cumbersome and often reflect the disregard for the lives of women.• In terms of legislation, there remains a lack of harmonization of laws, and the little attention to international commitments on prevention, treatment, punishment and eradication of violence. Both figures remain discriminatory laws, and in the procedures and practices.• Access to justice remains a problem that particularly affects women. Research is one of the main obstacles to access. Both inquiries in the judicial process as there is a general lack of gender prevails for crimes against women.• It has been documented that the families of the victims and those defenders are often stigmatized and threatened when appearing publicly or claim the advancement of processes and punish those responsible.• Lack of comprehensive public policies to address violence against women as a structural problem, which determines that the measures announced remain mere promises and away from the foster eradicate violence.