Women and girls breaking barriers to access justice in Honduras

February 2024

IJM and our partner, the Center for Human Development (CDH), recently facilitated a forum for 80 indigenous women.

The forum offered a space where victims and survivors of violence could come together to identify barriers to pursuing justice and propose solutions.

Shockingly, 45.7%¹ of women from rural areas, as well as 51.3%² women who self-identify as indigenous, have suffered violence at some point in their life.

Honduras’ femicide rate is at the top of the list among those of other Latin America and the Caribbean countries.

Honduran public records show that 309 women were murdered in 2022.³

This is what happens in communities when violence is not deterred. It passes from one generation to another in a cycle that shatters the lives of children and women, crushes their dignity and often makes communities believe that everyday violent behaviour is acceptable.

In response to this huge need, IJM launched a new project in Honduras last year. Through this initiative, IJM is collaborating with the Honduran Public Justice System to protect women and children from violence.

IJM and CDH are also facilitating the Community Network, a programme that prepares women to support survivors of violence. A community guide who participated in the forum shared:

“To accompany a victim of violence to file a complaint is scary, because as community guide you expose yourself to the perpetrator. But that fear is not bigger than the enormous satisfaction of supporting a sister who is suffering violence.”

1. Instituto Nacional de Estadistica, 2022
2. Ibid.
3. UN, (Naciones Unidas) Observatorio de Igualdad de Género, 2022