• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Honduras - Military Doctrine

The HNP maintain internal security and report to the Secretariat of Security. The armed forces, who report to the Secretariat for Defense, are responsible for external security, but they also exercise domestic security responsibilities. The PMOP reports to military authorities but conducts operations approved by civilian security and defense officials. As of August the PMOP had approximately 3,150 personnel organized into six battalions. The PMOP training program included training on human rights. In 2014 the government created an interagency task force (FUSINA) to coordinate the overlapping responsibilities of the HNP, PMOP, National Intelligence Directorate, Public Ministry, Supreme Court, and the courts. FUSINA reports to the National Security and Defense Council, chaired by the president and including representatives of the Supreme Court, Congress, Public Ministry, and Secretariats of Security and Defense.

Members of the security forces alleged to have committed human rights abuses were turned over to civilian authorities. The Public Ministry, through the Office of the Special Prosecutor for Crimes against Life and other offices, is responsible for investigating cases in which a member of a security force allegedly participates in the death of a civilian, and such cases are tried in civilian courts. Members of FUSINA implicated in a death related to FUSINA activities are tried by prosecutors and judges assigned to FUSINA. A unit within the Office of the Special Prosecutor for Crimes against Life manages cases of homicides committed by security forces and government officials. As of the end of September, the unit was managing nine cases from 2015. Three cases from previous years resulted in convictions, while two cases were closed and another dismissed. The human rights office of the joint staff of the armed forces investigated allegations of human rights abuses by members of the armed forces.

: In July the semiautonomous Institution for Access to Public Information (IAIP) called on the National Congress to revise 15 articles of the Law for the Classification of Public Documents Related to Defense and National Security and eliminate the remaining two articles. The IAIP claimed the law, passed in January 2014, contradicted the country’s Transparency Law and violated the constitution and international treaties on citizen access to information and government transparency. Reporters without Borders and other civil society members had expressed concern when the law was passed and continued to highlight it throughout the year as a measure that presents opportunities for corruption and could limit the transparency of government actions to combat impunity and human rights violations.

In 2013 the Council of Ministers approved the government’s first Public Policy and National Action Plan for Human Rights, which provides a plan for each government ministry to integrate promotion of and respect for human rights into its planning and budget. The administration that took office in 2014 committed to implement the plan. The government worked with civil society to develop a draft law protecting human rights defenders and journalists, which came into effect in May 2015. As of November the government was developing mechanisms to implement a risk analysis process and protective measures for individuals under threat. Six individuals were already benefiting from the new system. The Ministry of Human Rights, Justice, Governance, and Decentralization had provided human rights training to 9,795 persons as of September, including civilian police, members of the armed forces, health- and emergency-service personnel, and convicts.