36th Session, November 5, 2020
Read by Sean Garcia
The United States welcomes the delegation of Honduras to the UPR Working Group.
We recommend Honduras:
1. Strengthen its commitment to fighting corruption by increasing funding to the Specialized Fiscal Unit Against Corruption and removing legal and political barriers in order for the organization to hire additional personnel.
2.Enact a law to guarantee and strengthen judicial independence and update the procedures for selecting and appointing Supreme Court justices and the Attorney General and his or her Deputy.
3.Adopt and implement the proposed use-of-force legislation which will guide security forces’ interactions with civilians and develop operational law capacity and training to facilitate advice to commanders on human rights issues.
We are concerned with the lack of accountability for actions by the Military Police of Public Order and Honduran National Police during the 2017 post-election protests. Additionally, we are deeply concerned by the lack of effective command and control infrastructure in the National Interinstitutional Security Force (FUSINA). It is important for the civilian authorities to maintain effective control over security and military forces and that the military no longer be charged with the civilian duties of transportation, airport, and prison security.