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IOM Vision
IOM, in partnership with key strategic actors, seeks to provide direct support to vulnerable populations and to strengthen institutional and community capacities on preparedness and response for crises in Honduras, including disaster-related emergencies, and large population movements in order to reduce the risks and vulnerabilities of affected populations (internally displaced persons, returnees, migrants and host communities) and support sustainable recovery, preparedness and reintegration at the national and local levels.
Context analysis
Honduras has a total population of 10 million inhabitants (UN, World Population Prospects 2019). Although considered a lower-middle-income country (World Bank 2023), Honduras is classified as a medium risk country according to INFORM, facing growing inequality, driven by gender, ethno-racial and territorial social inequalities, which contribute to discrepancies in income levels and access to basic services. High levels of informal economic activity are reflected in low incomes with no social protection. Honduras is in Northern Central America (NCA), where nearly half of the population lives in poverty (49%), a condition that reaches critical levels in rural communities and affects indigenous or Afro-descendant populations to a greater extent (Borgen project, 2022). Almost 6 out of every 10 people in rural areas of Honduras live in poverty, contributing as structural drivers of migration to developed countries. This socioeconomic factor exacerbates the vulnerability of these populations to the effects of climate change, epidemics, and other risks. For instance, the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, combined with the impacts of tropical storms Eta and Iota in 2020, have deepened socioeconomic and gender inequalities as well as structural violence.
The impact of global inflation and high fuel prices are expected to affect the country's economy and therefore lead to the vulnerability of people in at-risk areas, which contributes to discrepancies in income levels and access to basic services. These socioeconomic factors will exacerbate the vulnerability of affected populations to the effects of climate change, epidemics, and other impacts.
Moreover, the transit of migrants in irregular conditions tripled between 2022 and 2023, according to a report presented by National Institute of Migration (INM), causing a humanitarian crisis in the country’s southern border, surpassing all local and national capacities to provide adequate shelter and humanitarian assistance. Due to its geographical location, Honduras has become a common transit country for migrants in transit on their way to the United States. According to the National Institute of Migration (INM) since 2014 more than 187,000 in-transit migrants entered the country. Frequent analysis of available data reveals an upward trend, since the number of migrants irregularly crossing into Panama after embarking on the perilous Darien Gap route reached a record in 2022, nearly doubling the figures of the previous year (IOM 2022). Furthermore, the so-called Northern Triangle countries alone – El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras – accounted for more than 541,000 migrant encounters at the United States’ southern border in 2022, almost a quarter of the historic high of nearly 2.4 million total encounters in the year (CBP 2022). The increase of migrants in transit have posed great challenges in terms of humanitarian and protection assistance for this population. Hence, the Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) and IOM's experience in emergency response will be very useful to achieve coordinated action.
A key protection need for migrants on transit and refugees on the southern border of Honduras is access to information on available services, for which IOM will build a system of referrals to appropriate response mechanisms, such as asylum procedures, child protection services, procedures for victims of trafficking, assistance to women and girls at risk, and assisted voluntary return programs, in different languages and easy reading formative material for users on how to obtain these services. Moreover, the capacity of collective centres is insufficient in the three sites in Trojes and in one site in Danlí, which are at least three times their actual capacity; space is urgently required.
Furthermore, Honduras is in the most disaster- and risk-prone zone in Central America and is highly affected by extreme climatic events, such as earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, and droughts contributing to the internal displacement of the population. The El Niño climate phenomenon is anticipated to continue through the Northern Hemisphere spring (with an 80% chance during March-May 2024) according to the United States Climate Prediction Center (CPC 2023). In Honduras, El Niño generally produces a more intense and longer heat wave in the departments of Choluteca, Valle, El Paraíso, Francisco Morazán, La Paz and Ocotepeque and in the south of the departments of Comayagua, Intibucá and Lempira; which translates into droughts. These recurrent shocks are increasingly more intense, and their causes and effects are linked to climate change, migration, and economic, social, political, and environmental factors. Over the last six years, the impacts of storms and hurricanes have increased both in number and level of destruction.