Human rights in Honduras

Serious issues involving human rights in Honduras through the end of 2013 include unlawful and arbitrary killings by police and others, corruption and institutional weakness of the justice system, and harsh and at times life-threatening prison conditions.

Other human rights problems include violence against detainees; lengthy pretrial detentions and failure to provide due process of law; harassment of journalists; corruption in government; violence against and harassment of women; child prostitution and abuse; trafficking in persons; encroachment on indigenous lands and discrimination against indigenous and Afro-descendent communities; violence against and harassment of LGBT persons; ineffective enforcement of labor laws; and child labor. Organized criminal elements were significant perpetrators of violent crimes in the country and committed acts of murder, extortion, kidnapping, torture, human trafficking, and intimidation of journalists and human rights defenders.

The government has taken steps to prosecute and punish officials who commit abuses. However, corruption and impunity remain serious problems that impede the effectiveness of the National Police.

During much of the twentieth century, Honduras did not have civilian governments. Military leaders frequently became presidents, either through elections or by coups d'état. General Tiburcio Carías Andino was elected in 1932, he later on called a constituent assembly that allowed him to be reelected, and his rule became more authoritarian until an election in 1948. During the following decades, coups d'état occurred in October 1955 by a group of military officers, in October 1963 (1963 Honduran coup d'état) and December 1972 by General Oswaldo López Arellano, in 1975 by Juan Alberto Melgar Castro (1975 Honduran coup d'état) and in 1978 by Policarpo Paz García.

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