United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2024). World Population Prospects 2024, Online Edition. Estimates 2024.
Proportion of ever-partnered women aged 15-49 years experiencing intimate partner physical and/or sexual violence at least once in their lifetime. Source: Secretaría de Salud [Honduras], Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE) e ICF International, 2013. Encuesta Nacional de Salud y Demografía 2011-2012. Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
Proportion of ever-partnered women aged 15-49 years experiencing intimate partner physical and/or sexual violence in the last 12 months. Source: Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas y la Secretaria de Salud de Honduras. (2021). Encuesta Nacional de Demografía y Salud / Encuesta de Indicadores Múltiples por Conglomerados. Honduras 2019. Tegucigalpa.
(1) Amend the Penal Code to increase the sentences for femicide to make them commensurate with the gravity of the crime, and ensure that cases of femicide are investigated by the Inter-Agency Commission for the Monitoring of Investigations into Violent Deaths among Women and Femicides and that perpetrators are prosecuted and adequately punished; (2) Amend the Penal Code to specifically criminalize marital rape, base the definition of rape on the absence of free consent and ensure that sentences for gender-based violence against women are commensurate with the gravity of the offences; (3) Encourage the reporting of domestic violence against women and girls by raising awareness among women and men, including through educational and media campaigns, with the active participation of women's organizations and women human rights defenders, on the criminal nature of gender-based violence against women, challenge its social legitimization and destigmatize and protect women from reprisals for reporting incidents of gender-based violence; (4) Ensure the availability of a dedicated hotline available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for victims of domestic and sexual violence and expand the network of specialized, inclusive and accessible shelters for women and girls who are victims of gender-based violence, taking into account their specific needs, and provide women who cannot safely return to their homes with psychosocial counselling, financial support, professional training, income-generating activities, shelter or affordable housing and, if necessary to ensure their safety, a changed identity; (5) Establish effective procedures to investigate cases of sexual abuse and harassment of girls, prosecute perpetrators, and ensure that victims can file complaints without their parents or legal guardian and have access to free legal aid, medical assistance, psychosocial counselling and rehabilitation; (6) In line with its general recommendation No. 28 (2010) on the core obligations of States parties under article 2 of the Convention, exercise due diligence to protect lesbian, bisexual and transgender women from discrimination and gender-based violence; (7) Collect comprehensive data, disaggregated by age, sex, relationship between the victim and the perpetrator, and other sociodemographic characteristics, such as disability, to better inform policies and strategies to combat gender-based violence against women and girls, including domestic and sexual violence.
(1) Amend Decree 3-2021, to legalize same-sex marriage and recognize same-sex marriages and registered unions entered into under private international law; (2) Amend article 22 of the Special Act on Adoption (2018), to allow the adoption of children by women in same-sex marriages or de facto unions; (3) Effectively enforce the legal minimum age of marriage (18 years) for both women and men without exception and strengthen awareness-raising efforts regarding the harmful effects of child marriage and early de facto unions on the health and development of girls.
(1) Bring the definition of trafficking in persons in its legislation into conformity with the Convention, the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and relevant international human rights standards, and systematically collect data on human trafficking, disaggregated by sex, age, nationality, ethnicity, disability and socioeconomic status; (2) Strengthen coordination between the Inter-Agency Commission against Commercial Sexual Exploitation and Trafficking in Persons, the Public Prosecutor's Office and the police to ensure the protection of women and girls who are victims of trafficking and enhance training and capacity-building efforts for law enforcement and border officers to increase their ability to identify victims of trafficking and refer them to appropriate services; (3) Ensure that traffickers and complicit State agents are prosecuted and adequately punished and provide information on the prosecution and conviction rates in trafficking cases in its next periodic report; (4) Significantly increase the number and funding of shelters for victims of trafficking in both urban and rural areas and provide free legal aid, adequate medical assistance, psychosocial counselling, financial support, education, professional training and access to income-generating opportunities to women and girls who are victims of trafficking.
No specific provisions on violence against women in the Constitution. However, it does include gender equality and prohibitions of discrimination based on sex.
Honduras does not have a standalone law on violence against women. Such violence is addressed primarily through the Domestic Violence Law (Decree No. 132-97), which is gender-neutral and does not recognize the structural and gendered nature of violence.
While femicide is defined and criminalized under Article 118-A of the Penal Code, acknowledging power imbalances and misogynistic motives, this framing does not extend to other forms of violence against women.
There are no public records of a national plan on violence against women and girls in Honduras.