The vast majority of the victims were between the ages of 19 and 30, although there are 17 minor victims.
At least 57 girls, boys, adolescents and young people (CAY) died violently in Honduras in January 2023, which represents an increase of 9.6% compared to the same month of 2022, according to figures revealed this Friday by the Network of Institutions for the Rights of Children (Coiproden). The data indicates that, of the 57 children and young people killed in the first month of 2023, 77% (44) corresponded to men, while 23% (13) to women, indicated Coiproden in a monitoring of violent deaths in childhood, adolescence and youth.
The number of deceased children and young people increased by 5 cases compared to the first month of 2022, when 52 fatalities were registered, he added. 70% (40) of the victims were between 19 and 30 years old, and 30% (17) were under 18 years of age, highlighted the organization that defends the rights of children and youth.
The departments of Francisco Morazán, Cortés and Yoro, central and northern Honduras, are the three regions that registered the highest rates of murders of children, adolescents and young people in January, revealed Coiproden. In Francisco Morazán, a total of 14 children and young people died, in Cortés, 10, and in Yoro, 8, according to the NGO’s statistics.
The Coiproden Network urged the president of Honduras, Xiomara Castro, to convene the National Council for Guarantees of the Rights of Children and Adolescents (Sigadenah). Likewise, she specified that the ratification of the Third Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child is in the hands of the Honduran Parliament. It also denounced the death of eleven girls, boys and adolescents in traffic accidents, three of whom were minors.
Honduras, which is considered one of the most violent countries in the world by the high rates of violent deaths without living in war, daily records an average of between ten and twelve murders. Violent deaths in the country are attributed to a greater degree to organized crime and gangs known as ‘maras’, which fight over territories for retail drug trafficking and extortion. One factor contributing to the violence in Honduras is the high impunityto which are added the evolution of criminal gangs, according to authorities and human rights organizations.