Citizen security – the freedom of individuals to pursue their lives free from violent crime and in full enjoyment of their human rights – is one of the most pressing challenges facing many countries in the Americas today. Citizen security encompasses the lawful activity of security forces aimed at protecting the population from crime and violence, as well as the need to effectively prevent and remedy human rights violations by those same forces.[42]

According to Mr. Blackwell, the “lack of citizen security is one of the most serious problems affecting Honduran society, a situation that has a profound impact on the protection of human rights.”[43] Witnesses told the Subcommittee that Honduras is one of the most violent countries in the world.[44] Mr. Rick Craig, Executive Director of the Justice Education Society of British Columbia, a non-governmental organization that works with police and prosecutors in Honduras, informed the Subcommittee that, although estimates fluctuate, the homicide rate in Honduras is usually pegged at approximately 90 homicides per 100,000 people, which is “about 45 to 50 times” the rate in Canada.[45] He noted that in recent years Honduras has experienced an “unprecedented” rise in its homicide rate, representing an “incredible increase in violence.”[46] Information on homicide rates from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the OAS Observatory on Citizen Security’s Data Repository is consistent with this observation, showing a sharp increase in homicides in Honduras beginning in 2007.[47]

Witnesses stated that the increase in homicides and violent crime in Honduras has been attributed primarily to increased transnational drug trafficking, human trafficking and organized crime. The Subcommittee was told that following the 2009 coup a security vacuum allowed regional drug cartels to consolidate their presence and expand their trafficking and money laundering activities in Honduras.[48] Drugs move up from South America through the so-called “northern triangle” of Central America (Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador) to Mexico and finally into the United States. According to officials from DFATD, estimates indicate that “close to 80% of all cocaine-smuggling flights departing South America touch land in Honduras before continuing northward.”[49]

Street gangs, known as maras, also contribute to the pervasive lack of security. There are more street gangs in Honduras than in all other Central American countries combined.[50] These gangs finance themselves through extortion and other criminal activity, which greatly contributes to insecurity in the country.[51] Small arms and light weapons proliferate amongst the population.[52]

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has stressed that citizen security requires timely, accessible, competent and non-discriminatory responses to crime by the justice system, as well as access to and respect for due process of law (including in the taking of complaints and conduct of investigations, prosecutions and criminal trials).[53] Witnesses informed the Subcommittee, however, that the Honduran police and security forces lack the expertise and resources to carry out effective investigations; they are plagued by corruption, have difficulty working effectively with the Public Prosecutor’s Office and are not always fully under the control of the civilian government.[54]

In this context, private security guards are increasingly fulfilling civilian policing functions.[55] Indeed, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has estimated that there are approximately 70,000 private security guards in Honduras, in comparison with roughly 14,000 police officers.[56] Discussing the impact of private security forces in Honduras, Esther Major, from Amnesty International, referred the Subcommittee to the work of the UN Working Group on the use of mercenaries as a means of violating human rights and impeding the exercise of the right of peoples to self-determination. Following a visit to Honduras in February 2013, the Working Group stated that

The unprecedented level of crimes and violence in the country has added to the confusion of roles and functions between [private security companies] and the security forces of the State, where these companies operate often in concert with or with knowledge of the police and the military.[57]

The Working Group concluded that Honduran private security companies “are undoubtedly powerful entities with significant leverage and there are significant challenges in ensuring that their activities are kept within the four corners of the law.”[58]

The Subcommittee heard allegations that both private and public security forces have been involved in human rights violations and abuses, including assassinations. Such actions represent clear violations and abuses of the right to life and to security of the person under international law.[59] The Subcommittee believes that the Government of Honduras must effectively control and regulate its security sector, including both public and private forces. The Subcommittee agrees with the finding of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights that one of the state’s fundamental responsibilities is to ensure the democratic governance of citizen security and the public accountability of the systems that contribute to it.[60]