Honduras Forms Detective Unit To Investigate Child Murders
The Honduran government has agreed to
form a specific unit of police detectives to investigate the murder of
children and youth, it was announced last week.
As international pressure grows to
demand a governmental response to the more than 1,350 children and youth
murdered since January 1998 in the country of 5 million people, the Minister
of Public Security, Oscar Alvarez, announced the formation of a group of
five detectives from the General Directorate of Criminal Investigation
(DGIC). These detectives, who will be known as the Special Unit for Child
Deaths, have been given an initial 15 cases by Casa Alianza to investigate
as a start to measure their effectiveness. All the cases include the murder
of children by the police.
The Director of the DGIC visited Casa
Alianza in Tegucigalpa recently to discuss the shortcomings of the
investigations and to promise to make these cases a priority. Casa Alianza
considers the new unit to be an important political step forward but will
measure the effectiveness in the number of cases brought to trial in the
courts.
The Minister also established a
supervisory commission to monitor investigations and to advise the special
unit. Representatives from Casa Alianza, the Honduran Institute of
Childrenís and Family Affairs, the National Human Rights Commissioner, the
Public Ministry and the Supreme Court, will integrate this commission.
The United Nations has still not issued
the findings of the Special Rapporteur on Arbitrary, Summary and Extra
Judicial Executions, Asma Jahangir, who visited Honduras more than a year
ago to document the killings of children and youth. More than 650 children
have been murdered since her visit.
For more information, please contact Casa
Alianza at <info@casa-alianza.org>
