00:00Child rights organizations warn that sexual violence against minors continue to rise in Honduras, where a report is filed every
00:07five hours, and dozens of girls have become pregnant after being raped so far in 2026. Karim Duarte shares the
00:14details with us.
00:18In Honduras, a report of sexual abuse against children or adolescents is filed every four hours and 52 minutes, according
00:27to data compiled by child advocacy organizations, which warn that sexual violence continues to be one of the main threats
00:34to children in the country.
00:37Well, I was just mentioning that every hour, a boy and a girl are sexually abused in Honduras. That's why
00:45there's an average of 26 cases per day, 26 instances of abuse, of which we receive only one report filed
00:53with the public prosecutor's office every four hours and 52 minutes.
00:58Unfortunately, we've only managed to secure convictions in 16% of these types of abuse cases in the country. And
01:06when we say that a report is filed every four hours and 52 minutes, this figure is actually lower than
01:12the number of sexual abuse cases that occur daily.
01:17These same organizations report that 62 girls under the age of 14 became pregnant in 2026 as a result of
01:25rape, a situation that highlights the impact of these crimes and the need to strengthen prevention, protection, and access to
01:31justice.
01:33But what is most regrettable is knowing that more than 70% of these crimes are being committed by members
01:39of the victim's own family.
01:43I mean, this is unheard of, but it's real. It's the father, the stepfather, the grandfather, the uncle, or the
01:51cousin who is committing this abuse and leaving the victim pregnant as well. I mean, it's deplorable.
01:57According to the public prosecutor's office, there are some regions in the country where this has become normalized, where girls
02:03are pregnant by age 12. This is practically the norm within those communities.
02:11Records indicate that since 2021, more than 13,000 cases of sexual violence against minors have been reported in Honduras,
02:19but only about 16% have reached a judicial resolution, while the majority remain unpunished.
02:27Impunity has become state policy, and of course, there is complicity when immediate action is not taken, when the law
02:36is not enforced, when it is not implemented, when justice becomes selective, when crimes are not prosecuted,
02:43when that cycle of violence is not completely broken, even the diplomacy that the international community itself and civil society
02:51can use to address all these issues.
02:53All of this makes us complicit in a system that, far from comprehensively protecting the children and adolescents of this
03:01country, instead turns us into accomplices who constantly violate the fundamental rights of girls and boys in Honduras.
03:12Child protection organizations also warn that Honduras has one of the highest rates of teenage pregnancy in Latin America, with
03:2197 births per 1,000 adolescents, and they insist on strengthening public policies to guarantee the safety and rights of
03:27children and adolescents.
03:29For Telesur, from Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Karim Duarte.
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