Tegucigalpa. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) welcomes the approval by the National Congress of Honduras of the Law for the prevention, care and protection of internally displaced persons, which establishes a basis for structurally addressing the consequences humanitarian issues faced by the more than 247,000 people internally displaced by violence, and to prevent new displacements.
“The approval of this legal framework for comprehensive protection is a great step towards finding lasting solutions and rebuilding the lives of the thousands of people affected by this scourge”, said Karim Khallaayoun, head of the ICRC Mission in Honduras.
With this new legal framework, the State of Honduras has made important progress in addressing the problem of displacement. The ICRC hopes that this will make it possible to respond to the challenges in assistance and strengthen competencies and complementarity between state protection systems and the response of humanitarian organizations, establishing coordinated coordination, registration and care mechanisms, thus guaranteeing a comprehensive and timely response.
This law is harmonized with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement and responds to the recommendations of international human rights and humanitarian organizations, including the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the International Committee of the Red Cross. , made to the State of Honduras in recent years, through the Inter-Institutional Commission for the Protection of Persons Displaced by Violence (CIPPDV).
According to the “Study to characterize internal displacement due to violence in Honduras”, between 2004 and 2018, 247,090 people were displaced by violence, which is equivalent to 2.1% of the Honduran population. 55% of displacement victims are women.
In support of the response of the CIPPDV and the Secretariat for Human Rights, since 2017 the ICRC has been implementing a program to assist displaced individuals and families. Through a care mechanism, they are provided with a short-term response to their protection and assistance needs through opportunities that allow them to move away from risk and obtain self-sufficiency. In 2022, more than 300 internally displaced people have been assisted by the ICRC, a total of 1,600 people from 2017 to date.
These types of initiatives are examples of good practices to address the needs of displacement victims. However, with the approved legislative framework, the door was opened to the possibility of proposing structural solutions.
“The commitment of the legislature to build a legal framework that meets the needs of victims of displacement due to violence lays the foundation for these people to have access to mechanisms that allow them to rebuild their lives. At the ICRC we reiterate our commitment to accompany and support its implementation,” Khallaayoun said.
The ICRC, founded in 1863, is an independent, neutral and impartial international humanitarian organization that provides protection and assistance to victims of armed conflicts and other situations of violence. It has 20,000 employees working in 100 countries around the world. It is part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, the world’s oldest and largest humanitarian network, and they work hand-in-hand with their national Red Cross partners to scale up their work.
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For more information: Francisco Pavón, communication officer of the ICRC mission in Honduras: +504-9452-5422, email: fpavonmolina@icrc.or