Attachments
1. Context
In Honduras, internal displacement occurs clandestinely and often with little warning, as people flee individually or in small groups, generally after receiving direct threats from gangs or “maras.” Between 2004-2018, at least 247,000 people were internally displaced by violence in Honduras, representing 2.7% of the population and affecting 58,500 households.1 Generalized violence and organized crime have created a climate of fear in both urban and rural areas that is compounded by high levels of impunity for murder, extortion, sexual violence, kidnapping and forced recruitment of children and adolescents and this compels people to flee.2 Although most IDPs stay within their own municipality, their situation in terms of housing, health and livelihoods is comparably worse than that of their neighbours who have not fled.3 An unknown number of IDPs, often unaccompanied minors, have subsequently fled abroad, joining the asylum-seekers and socio-economic migrants more commonly associated with Honduras.
The Government of Honduras first officially recognized the phenomenon of internal displacement in 2013 through Decree PCM- 053-2013.4 The decree established the Inter-Institutional Commission for the Protection of Persons Displaced by Violence (CIPPDV), comprised of several government agencies and civil society organizations and housed within the Secretariat for Human Rights.
Since 2014, UNHCR, the Joint IDP Profiling Service (JIPS), and an advisory group comprised of representatives and experts from civil society organizations, academia, and international organizations have supported CIPPDV’s efforts to establish an evidence base for internal displacement that occurred between 2004 to date.5 An expanded nationwide internal displacement profiling exercise (2017-2019) included an extensive set of workshops and consultations with 30 national and international entities, as well as 70 IDPs, to understand the situation and needs of displaced people in order to inform the planning of specific government responses.6
In 2016, the CIPPDV began developing the draft Law on Protection of Persons Displaced by Violence, a collaborative process that also included two consultations with IDPs on elements of the legislation.7 CIPPDV officially handed over the draft law to two congressmen on 27 March 2019, and is currently awaiting official submission to the Honduran National Congress for review and approval.