By Sandra Cuffe
MOYOGALPA, Nicaragua
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon stopped in Honduras on Wednesday as part of a tour in which he will address security, human rights and other key issues in the region.
Ban met with Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, members of Congress, the governmental National Human Rights Commission, and non-governmental organizations.
Human rights and violence were among the top concerns discussed during Ban’s visit as Honduras has the highest per capita homicide rate in the world outside of an active war zone.
The Secretary-General emphasized the need to protect migrant children after tens of thousands of unaccompanied children arrived at the U.S’s southern border in 2014, fleeing poverty and violence. Honduras was the main country of origin, followed by El Salvador and Guatemala.
“Like people everywhere, Hondurans want good schools for their children,” Ban said, according to the UN News Service.
“They want transparent, accountable and strong institutions that listen and respond to the people. They want communities free of violence.”
Casa Alianza, a Honduran non-governmental organization dedicated to the rights of children and youth, highlighted the inequality, violence and state human rights violations that prompted the mass migration of children.
“Social breakdown has been a constant in recent years in the country and instead of seeking a humane and sustainable solution to the problem, the measures adopted by successive governments have worsened it,” the organization said in a press release following a meeting with Ban.
The UN chief also told lawmakers that a new United Nations office on human rights will be established in Honduras later this year. Honduras has had a Human Rights Advisor as part of its UN presence for the past few years but the government has been requesting a country office.
Ban continues his trip Thursday and Friday in El Salvador and it includes meetings with Salvadoran President Salvador Sánchez Cerén and UN agency representatives in the country.
Ban will also take part in ceremonies commemorating the 1992 Peace Accords.
Friday marks the 23rd anniversary of the agreement that ended a 12-year civil war in which an estimated 75,000 people were killed.
