PBI-Honduras observes the March 6th International Women’s Day march in Tegucigalpa

On March 23, the Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project posted, “On March 6 we observed the women’s march in Tegucigalpa.”

PBI-Honduras adds, “There was an impressive number of women of all ages, very diverse groups, from the network of sex workers to groups from different native peoples from all parts of the country. About 700 women participated. The topics for which they showed presence on the street included: Impunity for sexual crimes, rapes and femicide, and the machismo of Honduran society that has many faces.”

Prensa Latina reported, “Women’s advocacy organizations protested demanding the State to declare a national emergency state due to the high rate of femicides.”

“To remind prosecutors they are obliged to investigate crimes against women, they marched – in the context of International Women’s Day on March 8 – from Morazan Boulevard to the Public Prosecutor’s Office [the Public Ministry].”

That article notes, “The number of femicides in Honduras exceeds 50 crimes this year, and on the first day of 2020 five women were reported dead, according to official data.”

The Agencia EFE article on the march adds Ana Cruz of the Women’s Tribune (la Tribuna de Mujeres), says that there have been 61 violent deaths of women notes that 390 women were killed in 2019. Cruz indicated that women in Honduras, a country marked by machismo, experience a ‘very difficult situation’ due to the ‘lack of response’ by the State to prevent violence that affects them.”

The article notes, “At the end of the march, a performance by young women was staged to demand that a ‘national emergency’ be declared for femicides in the country and that the prosecutor not ‘turn a deaf ear’ to the appeals of women calling for ‘justice’.”

For more on Peace Brigades International activities this past International Women’s Day, please see PBI-Guatemala accompanies International Women’s Day march, PBI-Mexico accompanies International Women’s Day March in Chihuahua, PBI-Kenya celebrates International Women’s Day with #EachforEqual dialogue, honours four women human rights defenders, and PBI-United Kingdom organizes photo exhibit on women human rights defenders for March 8, International Women’s Day.