[{"bbox": [85, 156, 356, 194], "category": "Section-header", "text": "# 2 RATIONALE"}, {"bbox": [85, 220, 244, 252], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## 2.1 Context"}, {"bbox": [97, 265, 1163, 398], "category": "Text", "text": "In recent years, Honduras has descended into one of the most profound governance crises in the region, with corruption surging to unprecedented levels in the country's history. Despite the current government's efforts over the last two years to combat corruption and restore governance, the country continues to bear the brunt of this crisis. The persistent and profound multi-sectoral crisis in Honduras has limited substantive progress in several components of human development, and one manifestation of this process is the weakening of the rule of law."}, {"bbox": [97, 424, 1163, 584], "category": "Text", "text": "According to the 2022 Human Development Report of Honduras, the moderate evolution in central human development issues such as income, schooling, life expectancy, and other variables, has been insufficient to close the inequality and exclusion gaps. Honduras has an HDI of 0.634, the lowest in the Central American region, 21.7% lower than that of Costa Rica (0.810), the country with the highest HDI in Central America. At the Latin American regional level, Honduras is ranked 25.5% lower than Chile (0.851), which is the country with the highest HDI value in the region³."}, {"bbox": [97, 609, 1163, 849], "category": "Text", "text": "In terms of gender equality and women's empowerment (GEWE), although some progress has been achieved, work still has to be done to reach gender equality. 33.6% of women aged 20–24 years old who were married or in a union before age 18. The adolescent birth rate is 88.7 per 1,000 women aged 15-19 as of 2014, down from 103 per 1,000 in 2013. As of February 2021, only 21.1% of seats in parliament were held by women⁴. Honduras has one of the highest rates of violent deaths of women in the world, by 2021, there were reported 318 violent deaths of women. Violence against women is widespread and systematic in Honduras, affecting women and girls in numerous ways, including high levels of gun violence, domestic violence, femicide, and sexual violence. The country is both a source and transit country for human trafficking, with women being the most affected by it. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the situation, resulting in an increase in reported cases of domestic and intrafamily violence⁵."}, {"bbox": [97, 874, 1163, 981], "category": "Text", "text": "In this context, corruption becomes a structural phenomenon, and one contributing factor is the impunity of those who engage in these practices, as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) pointed out in its 2019 report on corruption and human rights⁶. Likewise, in the same study, the IACHR points out that impunity is not the only factor that makes corruption possible and that other factors facilitate it, such as:"}, {"bbox": [97, 1007, 1163, 1060], "category": "Text", "text": "(a) Institutional weakness of the State, which is characterized by the inability of territorial coverage and by institutions unable to comply with their functions fully;"}, {"bbox": [97, 1061, 1163, 1113], "category": "Text", "text": "b) Monopoly or concentration of power in areas with high economic or social impact, where resources are managed, or decisions with political and social implications are made;"}, {"bbox": [97, 1114, 698, 1140], "category": "Text", "text": "c) Ample room for discretion in decision-making by State agents;"}, {"bbox": [97, 1141, 1163, 1193], "category": "Text", "text": "d) Lack of control over the actions of the authority, which is based on the lack of transparency and accountability of the decisions adopted by the authority, as well as on the secret nature of corruption; and,"}, {"bbox": [97, 1194, 1163, 1245], "category": "Text", "text": "e) A high level of impunity permits acts or systems of corruption to function on the assumption that the benefits obtained far outweigh the costs."}, {"bbox": [97, 1272, 1163, 1432], "category": "Text", "text": "In Honduras, the issue of transparency goes back to 1982 when the right of any individual or association request information from authorities and obtain a response was enshrined in Article 80 of the Constitution. In 2007, the Law on Transparency and Access to Public Information was published, thereby creating the Institute for Access to Public Information, which is responsible for advocating for, supervising and regulating the public institutions obliged to provide information to citizens, even those at the municipal government level. This institutional framework handles reports and complaints of acts of administrative corruption."}, {"bbox": [85, 1524, 1089, 1550], "category": "Footnote", "text": "³ The Human Development Report for Honduras - 2022 is available at: https://readymag.website/u2218266494/idh-hn/"}, {"bbox": [85, 1551, 477, 1573], "category": "Footnote", "text": "⁴ Country Fact Sheet | UN Women Data Hub"}, {"bbox": [85, 1574, 311, 1596], "category": "Footnote", "text": "⁵ World Bank Document"}, {"bbox": [85, 1597, 905, 1646], "category": "Footnote", "text": "⁶ IACHR. Corruption and Human Rights: Inter-American Standards, (December 2019): 6, http://www.oas.org/es/cidh/informes/pdfs/CorrupcionDDHHES.pdf"}, {"bbox": [1038, 1682, 1143, 1706], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "Page 5 of 33"}]