Violence, abuse, and poverty create 'national emergency' for Honduran children and youth

Being a child or young person in Honduras has become a dangerous gamble, with human rights organizations declaring a "national emergency" due to escalating violence, abuse, and pervasive poverty. Organizations highlight a severe lack of state protection, leaving youth exposed to numerous vulnerabilities.

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Being a child and being young is a risk, it is a danger. They are exposed to different vulnerabilities, but above all to a vulnerability generated by the State itself.

Wilmer Vásquez, coordinator of the Network of Institutions for the Rights of Children (Coiproden), stated that structural violence manifests as inequality, poverty, misery, exclusion, forced displacement, and migration. This environment contributes to school abandonment, child labor, sexual abuse, and adolescent pregnancies. The grim reality is underscored by recent violent deaths of minors, including a 16-year-old student abducted and found shot dead in August.

From January to July 2026, at least 363 minors and young people died violently, a 13% increase from the same period in 2025. Vásquez criticized the government's apparent indifference and insufficient resource allocation for child protection. He noted that Honduras has many public policies and legal reforms but lags significantly in their application and implementation.

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While justice is selective, while impunity is a state policy, while corruption prevails in the country, (...) the victims will continue to be children, youth and groups that have historically been in a situation of great vulnerability in Honduras.

Cándida Maradiaga, coordinator of the Children's Defense at the National Human Rights Commissioner (Conadeh), warned of the "national emergency" stemming from increased deaths and abuse. She reported that a child is a victim of sexual violence every three hours. The crisis is compounded by over a million children out of school, half a million in child labor, 20,000 homeless, and 25,000 adolescent pregnancies annually. Maradiaga stressed the need for institutions to reassess the context and implement preventive measures.

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There is a situation of lack of protection. We believe that the institutions responsible for strengthening prevention mechanisms must sit down, carefully review the context in which children are currently living and take precautionary measures to avoid...