Honduras

34% of girls in Honduras marry or enter a union before the age of 18 and 9% marry or enter a union before the age of 15.

10% of boys in Honduras marry or enter a union before the age of 18.

Child, Early, and Forced Marriage and Unions (CEFMU) are widely accepted throughout Honduras, particularly in rural areas where 40% of girls were married or in a union before the age of 18. Most unions are informal, rather than a formal marriage.

Child, Early, and Forced Marriage and Unions (CEFMU) are driven by gender inequality and the belief that women and girls are somehow inferior to men and boys.

In Honduras, CEFMU is exacerbated by:

● Adolescent pregnancy: Honduras has the highest rate of adolescent pregnancy in Central America. Between 2015-2020, the adolescent birth rate in Honduras was 97 per 1000 girls for girls between the ages of 15-19. Girls who fall pregnant, including as a result of sexual violence, are often forced into marriage by their families to protect their reputation. For women between the ages of 20-24, between 2015-2020, 22% had given birth before the age of 18.

● Gender-based violence: According to a Plan International and UNFPA study, many girls see marriage or entering in a union as a way to escape violence at home.

● Ethnicity: In Honduras, CEFMU is highly prevalent among the Miskito people, followed by Afro-descendant and Lenca-speaking communities, and in lower proportions, among the Garifuna and Maya Chorti people.

Humanitarian settings can encompass a wide range of situations before, during and after natural disasters, conflict and epidemics. They exacerbate poverty, insecurity, and lack of access to services such as education, factors which all drive child marriage. While gender inequality is a root cause of child marriage in both stable and crisis context, often in times of crisis, families see child marriage as a way to cope in greater economic hardship and to protect girls from increased violence.

Honduras has grappled with years of violent organized crime and gang violence is widespread. It has one of the highest murder and femicide rates in the world. The Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and the 18th Street Gang (Barrio 18) are infamously known for murder, extortion and drug peddling.

Additionally, in 2020, Honduras faced two hurricanes, Eta and Iota, which caused severe destruction, drought and food insecurity. Honduras is facing one of the worst levels of food insecurity and the economy is still suffering from the crisis that the COVID-19 pandemic caused.

● Gang violence: In recent years, gang warfare and violence have transformed Central America, including Honduras, into one of the most dangerous places on earth, with one woman killed every 36 hours. Honduras has the second highest rate of femicide within the region. Approximately 3.2 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance and over half a million people, the majority of them women, children and unaccompanied minors, have fled and are seeking asylum in Mexico and the United States. Between 2004 and 2019, an estimated 247,000 people were also internally displaced in Honduras due to violence. As reported in a 2019 Plan International and UNFPA study, in Honduras when parents migrate, older daughters become responsible for their younger siblings, and many girls look for an early union as a way to flee the domestic burden of their family of origin. In addition, women and girls are at a heightened risk of sexual violence during the migration route and there is evidence of girls being taken or pressured into marrying gang members. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, rates of gender-based violence and femicide have increased. While previous experiences in other humanitarian contexts show that violence and forced displacement increase girls’ vulnerability to CEFMU, more research is need to understand the impact of the Central America refugee crisis on CEFMU.

Honduras has committed to ending child, early and forced marriage by 2030 in line with target 5.3 of the Sustainable Development Goals.

The government submitted a Voluntary National Review at the 2020 High Level Political Forum, but there was no mention of child marriage. The government is due to submit a Voluntary National Review at the 2024 High Level Political Forum.

Honduras co-sponsored the following Human Rights Council resolutions: the 2013 procedural resolution on child, early and forced marriage, the 2015 resolution on child, early and forced marriage, the 2017 resolution on recognising the need to address child, early and forced marriage in humanitarian contexts, the 2019 resolution on the consequences of child marriage, 2021 resolution on child, early and forced marriage in times of crisis, including the COVID-19 pandemic, and the 2023 resolution on ending and preventing child marriage. In 2014, Honduras also signed a joint statement at the Human Rights Council calling for a resolution on child marriage.

Honduras co-sponsored the 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020 and 2022 UN General Assembly resolutions on child, early and forced marriage.

Honduras ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1990, which the Committee on the Rights of the Child has interpreted to recommend the establishment of a minimum age of marriage of 18, and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1983, which obligates states to ensure free and full consent to marriage.

During its 2022 review, the CEDAW Committee expressed concern at the high rate of school dropouts and adolescent pregnancies for Indigenous and Afro-Honduran children, due to child marriage. The Committee recommended that the government reduce high illiteracy rates among Indigenous and Afro-Honduran women and girls and facilitate reintegration and awareness raising on the importance of education for girls.

During its 2016 review, the CEDAW Committee expressed concern that provisions of Honduras’ Family Code continue to enable girls under the age of 16 to marry. It recommended that the government address the root causes of child marriage.

Honduras, as a member of the Organization of American States (OAS), is bound to the Inter American System of Human Rights, which recognises the right of men and women of marriageable age to marry and calls on governments to strengthen the response to address gender-based violence and discrimination, including early, forced and child marriage and unions, from a perspective that respects evolving capacities and progressive autonomy.

Honduras ratified the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of Violence against Women (known as the Belém do Pará Convention) in 1995. In 2016, the Follow-up Mechanism to the Belém do Pará Convention (MESECVI) recommended State Parties to review and reform laws and practices to increase the minimum age for marriage to 18 years for women and men.

Honduras, as a member of the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), adopted the Montevideo Consensus on Population and Development in 2013, which recognises the need to address the high levels of adolescent pregnancy in the region as usually associated with the forced marriage of girls. In 2016, the Montevideo Strategy for Implementation of the Regional Gender Agenda was also approved by the ECLAC countries. This Agenda encompasses commitments made by the governments on women’s rights and autonomy and gender equality in the last 40 years in the Regional Conferences of Women in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Agenda reaffirms the right to a life free of all forms of violence, including forced marriage and cohabitation for girls and adolescents.

Honduras is one of the countries where the Spotlight Initiative (a global, multi-year partnership between the European Union and the United Nations) is supporting efforts to end all forms of sexual and gender-based violence and harmful practices against women and girls. The Spotlight Initiative in Honduras has focused on decreasing femicide rates. Between 2005 and 2017 in Honduras, there were 5,000 victims of femicide, with 389 cases in 2017 alone. The total investment by the European Union between 2019-2022 has been USD$10 million. The funds have been distributed as follows:

Policy: Analysing gaps and strengthening legislation regarding gender equality and gender-based violence; the revision of the Latin American Model Protocol for the Investigation of Gender-related Killings of Women.

Institution: Engaging and enabling health, education and security institutions to adequately address violence against women and femicide, and building capacity and providing key stakeholders with the tools on gender-responsive knowledge.

Prevention: Raising awareness and supporting local organizations that work alongside the most marginalized in society such as indigenous women, LGBTQ and Afro-Honduran women through activities that empower and transform patriarchal and gendered social norms.

Data: Furthering the Infosegura programme by using technology to analyse femicide and violence against women data, as well as identify socioeconomic enablers of these crimes.

Women’s movements and civil society: Working with adolescents to ensure youth participation in awareness raising campaigns on the gravity of violence against women and femicide, and to promote greater dialogue on the subject.

In 2021, the Spotlight Initiative focussed on strengthening advocacy, and supporting civil society organizations and women’s groups in the approval of legal instruments by the legislature that support actions against violence against women and girls and femicide (VAWG&F) and ensuring the adequate allocation of resources. During this report period, the project prioritised:

Both formal and non-formal training to increase knowledge on VAWG&F.

Gender sensitive planning and budgeting.

Promoting and supporting local and national strategies that respond to work led by the Secretariat of Women’s Affairs.

The implementation of comprehensive care for victims and survivors of VAWG&F.

The strengthening of capacities for generating thematic statistics on VAWG&F, not only at institutional levels but among adolescents.

Honduras is a pathfinder country for the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children and a partner country of the Global Partnership for Education (GPE).

On 18 November 2021, the government of Honduras launched the National Action Plan (NAP) to End Violence Against Children (2021 – 2026). The action plan was developed following a nationwide violence against children survey in 2017. The process was supported by an advisory group, UNICEF and the Global Alliance to End Violence Against Children (EVAC). The National Action Plan itself is based on EVAC’s INSPIRE framework which provides evidence-based strategies to eliminate violence against children.

In July 2017 Honduras increased the legal minimum age of marriage to 18 for both boys and girls with no exceptions.

Previously, the minimum age of marriage was 16 years and allowed for exemptions if parents provided their consent.