[{"bbox": [97, 153, 1165, 287], "category": "Text", "text": "One way to encourage integrity and fight against corruption is through Honduras's Code of Conduct for Public Servants, an umbrella regulatory instrument. Its application and compliance are monitored by the High Court of Auditors, which issues binding regulations, opinions and rulings, along with the Probity and Public Ethics Committees of each public institution. The Judiciary is similarly governed by the Code of Ethics for Judicial Officials and Employees, which establishes the mandatory rules of behaviour for these judicial public servants."}, {"bbox": [97, 311, 1165, 525], "category": "Text", "text": "In 2022, the Ministry of Transparency and the Fight Against Corruption (STLCC) was created to prevent and fight corruption in the performance of public and private duties, pursuant to the guidelines of the Office of the President. This ministry designs, coordinates and evaluates anticorruption policies, strategies and programs to foster transparency and good governance practices. In addition to promoting transparency and preventing corruption, its strategic objectives also aim at bettering the entities involved in citizen reporting, internal control, efficiency and integrity in public procurement while ensuring administrative efficiency. All of these have been incorporated into the National Transparency and Anticorruption Strategy of Honduras (ENTAH), which contains lines of action and names those responsible in the public, private and civil sectors for designing actions and programs to fight corruption."}, {"bbox": [97, 550, 1165, 787], "category": "Text", "text": "In Honduras, the State and society face enormous challenges such as: the lack of transparency and integrity of public management; low citizen participation in the prevention of corruption; weak detection and investigation of corruption cases; the inoperability of effective mechanisms to sanction those responsible; the impossibility of asset recovery and the restoration of rights for society as a whole; low inter-institutional cooperation; limitations on access to public information; the low capacity of central and municipal level institutions for accountability; the absence of articulated mechanisms for managing conflicts of interest and the lack of a comprehensive approach to corruption risk management; and the lack of promotion of good anti-corruption practices in the public and private sectors. These challenges create opportunities for corruption and do not contribute to the generation of citizen confidence in public institutions."}, {"bbox": [97, 814, 1165, 1081], "category": "Text", "text": "Despite the difficulties, there are some advances in the fight against corruption, the improvement of transparency and the empowerment of civil society at the national level, such as the creation of the Secretariat for Transparency and Fight against Corruption (STLCC), the co-creation of the National Transparency and Anti-Corruption Strategy of Honduras (ENTAH), together with the Open State Action Plan Honduras 2023-2025, and the promotion of an open government with a territorial, inclusive and participatory approach. Moreover, the Ministry of Transparency and Fight Against Corruption launched in June 2024, together with the National University of Honduras, the 'National Academic Observatory of Transparency and Anticorruption' (OUNTAH), whose objective is to strengthen the dissemination of information and promote citizens' participation in decision-making processes on fundamental topics for the country. This approach has made it possible to gradually promote anti-corruption practices and generate a better understanding of the corruption phenomenon in the executive branch and local governments."}, {"bbox": [97, 1107, 1165, 1161], "category": "Text", "text": "Accordingly, the Action will address the challenges of fighting corruption, promoting transparency, citizen reporting and oversight of infrastructure projects, thus being a key facilitator of Global Gateway investments."}, {"bbox": [97, 1186, 1165, 1267], "category": "Text", "text": "In fact, the Action will support the development and implementation of sectoral anti-corruption strategies, especially in those sectors where there is a high social and environmental impact as the public infrastructure projects identified as priorities under the Global Gateway Investment Agenda for Honduras."}, {"bbox": [97, 1293, 1165, 1452], "category": "Text", "text": "For the prevention and fight against corruption to be effective, it is required the interaction of multiple state entities. For this reason, the Action will strengthen transparency and anticorruption-related institutional capacities in different entities and civil society while seeking ways to improve coordination between the various monitoring entities. It will also enhance inter institutional coordination to prevent and combat corruption by supporting the Ministry for Transparency and the Fight against Corruption, Citizen Transparency Commissions, Citizen Reporting System Line 130, and the National System for Transparency and Anti-Corruption."}, {"bbox": [97, 1478, 1165, 1612], "category": "Text", "text": "The proposed approach is to take advantage of the favorable economic and fiscal context in 2024 and 2025 by focusing on investment priorities and the EU added value in addressing social and environmental concerns. This will also mitigate the risks associated with the construction of major infrastructure in conflictive and sensitive areas. A participatory approach will be essential for the acceptance of these projects by local communities, with huge implications for the EU's reputation."}, {"bbox": [1038, 1682, 1143, 1706], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "Page 6 of 33"}]