Honduras - Killings of Children Continue
August saw the violent death and / or arbitary execution of a further 31 children and youth under the age of 23.
We started monitoring these killings in January 1998 and, as of August this year, the total number of children and youth killed has reached a staggering 3,273. Each month Casa Alianza Honduras publishes a detailed report of the killings which makes extremely unpleasant reading.
Particularly worrying are the cases of extreme violence and execution style killings, such as the case of 12 year old Erlin Rodriguez who was executed with a bullet to the head, his hands tied behind his back. Disturbingly, the killer felt confident enough to go to a local shop to ask to borrow some rope to tie the boy up in full view of all the customers. Sadly, this demonstrates society's "tolerance" of such acts - something that stems from the fear of indisciminate violence that has gripped Honduras, compounded by a culture of impunity.
How would we respond if this were happening in the UK, Europe or the US? Unabated killings of children and youth, month after month, year after year and cases are never investigated ... it would be an absolute outrage and people would demand justice. Sadly Honduran society appears to accept the ever increasing spiral of violence against its children and youth. The Government must take the initiative to break the cycle of increasing violence, investigate the killings and prosecute the perpetrators, whoever they are.
Please keep up the pressure on the Honduras authorities expressing your concern about the continued killings of young people in Honduras. Ask the authorities to increase their efforts to resolve this problem and to take a leading role in the struggle to eradicate violence. Every day that passes at least one more Honduran child will die, so please urge the authorities to provide adequate protection for children and young people to give them the security they deserve. Contact details and addresses are available via the urgent action page on this website.
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